May a person who is divorced but not remarried receive Communion?

The Church takes divorce seriously but recognizes that:

1. Civil divorce may be necessary. If it is the only way to secure certain legal rights, the care of children or the protection of an inheritance, it can be tolerated and is not a moral offense (CCC 2383).
2. A spouse may be the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law and has then not broken the moral law. There is a great difference between a spouse who sincerely tried to be faithful and was unjustly abandoned and one who by grave fault destroyed a valid marriage (CCC 2386).

In such cases the divorce is not a sin for that person, who may keep receiving Communion. In other cases, as with any serious sin, the divorced person should go to confession before receiving.

A divorced person who later remarries invalidly may not receive Communion while the situation lasts, unless he or she goes to confession and commits to living chastely. The Catechism explains that, faithful to Christ's words, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery," the Church cannot recognize a new union as valid if the first marriage was. The civilly remarried are objectively contrary to God's law and so cannot receive Communion or exercise certain Church responsibilities while this lasts. Absolution can be given only to those who repent and commit to complete continence (CCC 1650).