Pope poses questions to Vatican families meeting

On October 7, Pope gave the opening address at the meeting titled “Ten years after Amoris laetitia: proclaiming the Gospel with families today”. The event is taking place in the Paul VI Audience Hall from October 7-14

The Pope urged those at the gathering to share their stories of what has emerged from Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation on the family so the Church can renew her commitment to accompany families with the challenges and fragilities they face today.

Pope Leo stressed that “as pastors”, those gathered have the responsibility of “proclaiming the beauty of God’s plan for marriage and the family and his call for love and tenderness”.

The Pope reflected on many questions that have emerged that “deserve to be faced with courage”, such as the growing distance “between the ways in which sex and intimacy are lived and the Christian vision of marriage”.

“Young people continue to long for love, fidelity and belonging, yet many find it difficult to embrace how such a vision of love can take shape in their own lives or to believe that a lifelong commitment is the condition for reaching what they desire,” the Pope explained.

“Economic insecurity, migration, violence, loneliness and other forms of emotional fragility also shape the choices people make and the possibilities they can imagine for their future.”

In this regard, Pope Leo asked a series of questions that need to be faced such as: “What are people truly seeking beneath these cultural changes?”, “What do their joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties reveal to us?” or “Where do our pastoral language and practices succeed in opening a path, and where do they fail to touch people’s hearts or assist their efforts to do what is good?”

The Pope said an important element to focus on is “fragility”, as it strongly shapes peoples’ lives and relationship with God and the Church.

He asked another series of questions that the Church needs to reflect on to assist accompaniment: “What kind of Church, then, do people encounter precisely when they are most fragile? Do our communities help them discover that they still have a place, a responsibility and gifts to offer? Can the truth we proclaim be encountered through the patience, closeness and mercy of our pastoral presence? How can we announce to them the fullness of the Gospel’s teaching about the family?”

FULL STORY

Pope on Amoris laetitia: What Church do people meet when most fragile? (By Isabella H. de Carvalho/Vatican News)

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