laetitia in September 2016. The Buenos Aires guidelines state, "When the concrete circumstances of a couple make it feasible, especially when both are Christians with a path of faith, the commitment to live in continence can be proposed." The guidelines continue, "In other more complex circumstances, and when a declaration of nullity could not be obtained, the aforementioned option may not be in fact feasible. However, a path of discernment is also possible. If it is recognized that, in a specific case, there are limitations that mitigate liability and guilt (see 301 – 302), particularly when a person considers that he would fall on a further fault damaging the children of the new union, Amoris laetitia opens the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (see notes 336 and 351)." Pope Francis approved the Buenos Aires guidelines in a letter dated 5 September 2016, stating, "The writing is very good and explicitly the meaning of chapter VIII of Amoris laetitia. There are no other interpretations. May the Lord reward you for this effort of pastoral charity." In December 2017, both the Buenos Aires guidelines and Pope Francis' letter of approval were published in the October 2016 edition of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, followed by a statement by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin that Pope Francis had decreed that both documents be promulgated as authentic magisterium. Malta (January 2017) Similarly to the bishops of Buenos Aires, the bishops of Malta issued guidelines in January 2017 which state, "Despite the fact that this ideal is not at all easy, there may be couples who, with the help of grace, practice this virtue [continence] without putting at risk other aspects of their life together. On the other hand, there are complex situations where the choice of living "as brothers and sisters" becomes humanly impossible and gives rise to greater harm (see AL, note 329)." The guidelines continue, "If, as a result of the process of discernment, undertaken with 'humility, discretion and love for the Church and her teaching, in a sincere search for God’s will and a desire to make a more perfect response to it' (AL 300), a separated or divorced person who is living in a new relationship manages, with an informed and enlightened conscience, to acknowledge and believe that he or she is at peace with God, he or she cannot be precluded from