in 1994, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith released a letter which states that divorced and civilly remarried persons cannot receive the sacraments of penance and holy communion unless, where they cannot separate due to serious reasons, such as the upbringing of children, "they 'take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples. the letter also states that even if a divorced person is subjectively certain in conscience that their previous marriage had never been valid, this determination can only be made by a competent ecclesiastical tribunal.