Pope Francis\u2019 apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family, followed two contentious synods at the Vatican dominated by debate over divorce.<\/p>\n
VATICAN CITY \u2014 Ten years after Pope Francis issued a controversial document on families, Pope Leo XIV will meet with bishops from around the world to discuss the text\u2019s application for today.<\/p>\n
Amoris laetitia, Francis\u2019 apostolic exhortation on marriage and the family, followed two contentious synods at the Vatican dominated by debate over divorce.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo on Thursday announced that he is calling the presidents of the world\u2019s bishops\u2019 conferences to Rome in October for \u201csynodal discernment\u201d on how \u201cto proclaim the Gospel to families today, in light of Amoris laetitia.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting is not part of the Synod on Synodality, which will conclude a three-year implementation phase with an assembly in October 2028.<\/p>\n
Francis published Amoris laetitia in 2016 following separate synods on the family in 2014 and 2015. The two month-long assemblies prominently featured debates over divorce, and Francis\u2019 post-synodal document sparked controversy with a footnote that said \u201cin certain cases,\u201d divorced-and-civilly remarried Catholics could receive Communion.<\/p>\n
Previous popes had said such Catholics could not receive Communion unless they lived as brother and sister.<\/p>\n
In his March 19 message, Pope Leo said societal changes make pastoral attention to families even more necessary than 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
Amoris laetitia\u00a0is \u201ca luminous message of hope regarding conjugal love and family life,\u201d and \u201cwe ask God for the courage to persevere on this path, always welcoming the Gospel anew in the joy of being able to proclaim it to all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leo recalled the Second Vatican Council\u2019s teaching that the family is \u201c\u2018the basis of society,\u2019 a gift from God and \u2018a school for human enrichment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Vatican II, he added, \u201cthe two Apostolic Exhortations, Familiaris consortio \u2014 issued by St. John Paul II in 1981 \u2014 and Amoris laetitia (AL), have both strengthened the Church\u2019s doctrinal and pastoral commitment to the service of young people, married couples and families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lord has entrusted families with the task of participating in the Church\u2019s mission to proclaim the Gospel, including in places where the Church can witness only through the lay faithful, the pope said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor this reason, the Church\u2019s commitment in this area must be renewed and deepened, so that those whom the Lord calls to marriage and family life can, in Christ, fully live out their conjugal love, and that young people may feel attracted, within the Church, to the beauty of the vocation to marriage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The pontiff also pointed out \u201dvaluable teachings that we must continue to examine today\u201d from\u00a0Amoris laetitia, including how to live through family crises, that love in marriage \u201calways gives life,\u201d and the need for new pastoral methods.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News.<\/p>\n