by Anthony Mazur
posted 04/08/16   

     Pope Francis today released a 260 page apostolic exhortation, the Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), on certain family issues debated in the Catholic Church today. The communication to the Catholic Church touched on topics such as marriage and abortion.
     The exhortation states that the church must help young people overcome the challenges that prevent them from starting a family.
     “[The Church] need[s] to find the right language, arguments, and forms of witness that can help us reach the hearts of young people, appealing to their capacity for generosity, commitment, love, and even heroism, and in this way inviting them to take up the challenge of marriage with enthusiasm and courage,” states the Holy See.
     The release, also mentioned that love is “marked by humility,” and explains relationships may not be perfect. The exhortation asks couples to cultivate patience, lest bitterness consume them, and that love is meant to be willing and fruitful.
     Numerous controversial topics were written about as well. The exhortation defines marriage traditionally, however, according to some, opens up traditional practices, such as divorced people abstaining from Communion, to more progressive thinking.
     Traditionally, divorced and remarried individuals should not receive the Holy Eucharist because their original marriage is still valid in the eyes of the Church. Unless the new couple abstains from sexual relations, they would be living in a state of adultery, and are not supposed to receive Communion.
     “In such difficult situations of need [such as a single mother raising a child], the Church must be particularly concerned to offer understanding, comfort, and acceptance rather than imposing straightaway a set of rules that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy,” the treatise says.
     While apostolic exhortations do not define or redefine Church doctrine, some interpret the Amoris Laetitia to open up the way to allow divorced and remarried couples to receive communion on a case-by-case basis.
     The exhortation also states discusses abortion, and says the right to life is not outweighed by an “alleged” right to “one’s own body.” Further, the Church stresses not denouncing abortion would be shameful.
     “How can we issue solemn declarations on human rights and the rights of children, if we then punish children for the errors of adults,” it states. “If a child comes into this world in unwanted circumstances, the parents and other members of the family must do everything possible to accept that child as a gift from God and assume the responsibility of accepting him or her with openness and affection.”
     The Church suggests that parents “should ask the Lord to heal and strengthen them to accept their child fully and wholeheartedly.”
     The spread of pornography, prostitution, and exploitation of children was also denounced.

The Amoris Laetitia can be read in full here.

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