chapter 8 focuses on the pastoral care of church members who have been divorced and entered into new unions, or are affected by these "irregular unions" in some way. rather than "provide a new set of canonical rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases," chapter 8 encourages "a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases, one which would recognize that, since 'the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases', the consequences or effects of a rule need not necessarily always be the same." (paragraph 300) pope francis continues, "the church possesses a solid body of reflection concerning mitigating factors and situations. hence it can no longer simply be said that all those in any 'irregular' situation are living in a state of mortal sin and are