Pope Leo announced on March 19 — 10 years after Pope Francis issued Amoris Laetitia — that he will convene presidents of episcopal conferences in October to discuss how they will proceed to serve families in light of Amoris Laetitia and the current efforts of churches.
“The Second Vatican Council taught that the family is ‘the basis of society,’ a gift from God and ‘a school for human enrichment,’” Pope Leo wrote. “Through the sacrament of marriage, Christian spouses form a kind of ‘domestic church,’ whose role is essential for teaching and transmitting the faith.”
He said that Amoris Laetitia and Pope Saint John Paul’s 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio “have both strengthened the Church’s doctrinal and pastoral commitment to the service of young people, married couples and families.”
Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation offers valuable lessons that the Church must continue to examine, Pope Leo continued. Amoris Laetitia teaches that God’s love and mercy allows couples to live out their love stories while navigating family crises; that the Church should adopt Jesus’ gaze and tirelessly encourage the flourishing of couples and families; and that marriage “always gives life” (AL 165.)
Pope Leo then explained how the Church must continue to proclaim the Gospel to young families, saying “we must learn to evoke the beauty of the vocation to marriage precisely in the recognition of fragility, so as to reawaken ‘trust in God’s grace’ (AL 36) and the Christian desire for holiness. We must also support families, especially those suffering from the many forms of poverty and violence present in contemporary society.”
The Pope expressed his gratitude to God for families that live out the spirituality of family love, despite its challenges, and for pastors and ministries that shepherd families. He also wrote that the rapid changes of the modern era make it even more necessary to focus on ministering to families.
“There are, in fact, places and circumstances in which the Church ‘can become the salt of the earth’ only through the lay faithful and, in particular, through families,” he wrote. “For this reason, the Church’s 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.”
Pope Leo entrusted the mission to the intercession of St. Joseph.
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