Salvatore Cernuzio – Vatican City
Starting from the "luminous message of hope about conjugal and family love," Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, to observe the current "changes" in families, to share "what is being done in local Churches" for the past ten years in this regard, and to understand "the steps to be taken to proclaim the Gospel to today's families," also considering the forms of poverty and violence that many of them suffer. With these multiple objectives, Pope Leo XIV is convening the presidents of Bishops' Conferences from around the world for a summit on the family in the Vatican next October. The announcement comes in a message signed by the Pontiff today, March 19, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Francis's document (it was March 19, 2016), "the fruit of three years of synodal discernment supported by the Holy Year of Mercy."
Luminous message of hope
An exhortation at the center of reflections and debates — often limited solely to the topic of sacraments for divorced and remarried individuals — which Leo defines as a "luminous message of hope about conjugal and family love." On this tenth anniversary, the Pope wants, in fact, "to thank the Lord for the impulse given to the study and pastoral conversion of the Church, and to ask for the courage to continue the journey, always welcoming the Gospel anew, with the joy of being able to proclaim it to all."
In the message, the Pope refers to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council to recall that the family is "the foundation of society, a gift from God and a school of the richest humanism."
Through the sacrament of marriage, Christian spouses constitute a kind of "domestic Church," whose role is essential for education and the transmission of faith.
Familiaris consortio and Amoris laetitia
The conciliar impulse was taken up by the Pontiffs: John Paul II with Familiaris consortio in 1981 and Francis, specifically, with Amoris laetitia. Both exhortations have "stimulated the doctrinal and pastoral commitment of the Church in service of young people, spouses, and families."
In the thirty-five years between the two magisterial documents, numerous "anthropological-cultural changes" have become more pronounced, Leo XIV notes. That is why "Pope Francis wanted to engage the Church even further in the path of synodal discernment." From his predecessor, the Pope recalls the speech of October 17, 2015, delivered during the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family, in which Jorge Mario Bergoglio stated that it is not possible "to speak of the family without questioning families, listening to their joys and hopes, their sorrows and anxieties."
Amoris laetitia offers valuable teaching that we must continue to deepen today: the biblical hope of God's loving and merciful presence, which allows "love stories" to be lived even when "family crises" are experienced.
New pastoral paths
From the exhortation, Pope Leo highlights the strength of the "invitation to adopt the 'gaze of Jesus' and tirelessly stimulate 'the growth, consolidation, and deepening of conjugal and family love'," as well as the "call to discover that love in marriage 'always gives life' and that it is 'real' precisely in its 'limited and earthly' way."
"Pope Francis affirms the need to develop new pastoral paths and to strengthen the education of children, while inviting the Church to accompany, discern, and integrate fragility, overcoming a reductionist conception of the norm, and to promote 'the spirituality that springs from family life'," explains the Pontiff in his message. He adds that "to fulfill the mission of proclaiming the Gospel of the family to young generations, we must learn to evoke the beauty of the vocation to marriage precisely in the recognition of its fragility, in order to awaken trust in grace and the Christian desire for holiness."
We must also support families, particularly those suffering from the many forms of poverty and violence present in contemporary society.
A pastoral commitment that needs to be renewed and deepened
Hence, a thank you "for families who, 'despite difficulties and challenges, live the spirituality of family love made up of thousands of real and concrete gestures'." The Pope also expresses his gratitude to pastors, pastoral agents, associations of the faithful, and ecclesial movements committed to family pastoral care. A commitment that must be "renewed and deepened," exhorts Leo XIV.
In this regard, I express my gratitude to pastors, pastoral agents, associations of the faithful, and ecclesial movements committed to family pastoral care.
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