POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION AMORIS LÆTITIA OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS (Chapter Three : 76 - 88)

POST-SYNODAL  APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION

AMORIS LÆTITIA

OF THE  HOLY FATHER

FRANCIS

CHAPTER THREE

LookinG To Jesus:

The vocaTion of The famiLy

seeds of The Word and imperfecT siTuaTions

76.                          “The Gospel of the family also nourishes seeds that are still waiting to grow,  and serves  as the basis for caring for those plants that    are

71 Cf. Code of Canon Law, cc. 1116; 1161-1165; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, 832; 848-852.

72    Ibid., c. 1055 §2.

wilting and must not be neglected.”73 Thus, building on the gift of Christ in the sacrament, married couples “may be led patiently further on in order to achieve a deeper grasp and a fuller integration of  this mystery in their lives”.74

77.                         Appealing to the Bible’s teaching that all was created through Christ and for Christ (cf. Col 1:16), the Synod Fathers noted that “the order of redemption illuminates and fulfils that of creation. Natural marriage, therefore, is fully  understood in the light of its fulfilment in the sacrament of Matrimony: only in contemplating Christ does a person come to know the deepest truth about hu- man relationships. ‘Only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light… Christ, the new Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and his love, fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear’ (Gaudium et Spes, 22). It is particular- ly helpful to understand in a Christocentric key… the good of the spouses (bonum coniugum)”,75 which includes unity, openness to life, fidelity, indissolubility and, within Christian marriage, mutual support on the path towards complete friendship with the Lord. “Discernment of the presence of ‘seeds of the Word’ in other cultures (cf. Ad Gentes 11) can also apply to the reality of

73    Relatio Synodi 2014, 23.

74 John pauL II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio

(22 November 1981), 9: AAS 74 (1982), 90.

75    Relatio Finalis 2015, 47.

marriage and the family. In addition to true natu- ral marriage, positive elements exist in the forms of marriage found in other religious traditions”,76 even if, at times, obscurely. We can readily say that “anyone who wants to bring into this world a family which teaches children to be excited by every gesture aimed at overcoming evil – a family which shows that the Spirit is alive and at work – will encounter our gratitude and our appreciation. Whatever the people, religion or region to which they belong!”77

78.                        “The light of Christ enlightens every person (cf. Jn 1:9; Gaudium et Spes, 22). Seeing things with the eyes of Christ inspires the Church’s pastoral care for the faithful who are living together, or are only married civilly, or are divorced and remar- ried. Following this divine pedagogy, the Church turns with love to those who participate in her life in an imperfect manner: she seeks the grace of conversion for them; she encourages them to do good, to take loving care of  each other and to serve the community in which they live and work… When a couple in an irregular union at- tains a noteworthy stability through a public bond

–  and is characterized by deep affection, responsi- bility towards the children and the ability to over- come trials – this can be seen as an opportunity,

76  Ibid.

77 Homily for the Concluding Mass of  the Eighth World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia (27 September 2015): L’Osservatore Romano, 28-29 September 2015, p. 7.

where possible, to lead them to celebrate the sacrament of  Matrimony”.78

79.                         “When faced with difficult situations and wounded families, it is always necessary to recall this general principle: ‘Pastors must know that, for the sake of truth, they are obliged to exer- cise careful discernment of situations’ (Familiaris Consortio, 84). The degree  of  responsibility  is not equal in all cases and factors may exist which limit the ability to make a decision. Therefore, while clearly stating the Church’s teaching, pas- tors are to avoid judgements that do not take into account the complexity of various situations, and they are to be attentive, by necessity, to how peo- ple experience and endure distress because of their condition”.79

The Transmission of Life and The rearinG of chiLdren

80.                      Marriage is firstly an “intimate partner- ship of life and love”80 which is a good for the spouses themselves,81 while sexuality is “ordered to the conjugal love of  man and woman”.82       It

78    Relatio Finalis 2015, 53-54.

79    Ibid., 51.

80 Second vaTican ecumenicaL counciL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 48.

81 Cf. Code of Canon Law, c. 1055 § 1: “ad bonum coniugum atque ad prolis generationem et educationem ordinatum”.

82   Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2360.

follows that “spouses to whom God has not granted children can have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms”.83 Nonetheless, the conjugal union is ordered to procreation “by its very nature”.84 The child  who is born “does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfilment”.85 He or she does not appear at the end of a process, but is present from the beginning of  love as    an essential feature, one that cannot be denied without disfiguring that love itself. From the outset, love refuses every impulse to close in on itself; it is open to a fruitfulness that draws it beyond itself. Hence no genital act of husband and wife can refuse this meaning,86 even when for various reasons it may not always in fact be- get a new life.

81.                        A child deserves to be born of that love, and not by any other means, for “he or she is not something owed to one, but is a gift”,87  which   is “the fruit of  the specific act of  the  conjugal

83    Ibid., 1654.

84 second vaTican ecumenicaL counciL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 48.

85   Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2366.

86 Cf. pauL VI, Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae (25 July 1968), 11-12: AAS 60 (1968), 488-489.

87   Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2378.

love of the parents”.88 This is the case because, “according to the order of creation, conjugal love between a man and a woman, and the transmission of life are ordered to each other (cf. Gen 1:27-28). Thus the Creator made man and woman share in the work of his creation and, at the same time, made them instruments of his love, entrusting to them the responsibili- ty for the future of mankind, through the trans- mission of  human life”.89

82.                          The Synod Fathers stated that “the growth of a mentality that would reduce the generation of human life to one variable of  an individu-  al’s or a couple’s plans is clearly evident”.90 The Church’s teaching is meant to “help couples to experience in a complete, harmonious and con- scious way their communion as husband and wife, together with their responsibility for procreating life. We need to return to the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae of Blessed Pope Paul VI, which highlights the need to respect the dig- nity of the person in morally assessing methods of regulating birth… The choice of adoption or foster parenting can also express that fruitfulness which is a characteristic of married life”.91 With special gratitude the Church “supports   families

88 conGreGaTion for The docTrine of The faiTh, Instruction Donum Vitae (22 February 1987), II, 8: AAS 80 (1988), 97.

89    Relatio Finalis 2015, 63.

90    Relatio Synodi 2014, 57.

91    Ibid., 58.

who accept, raise and surround with affection children with various disabilities”.92

83.                          Here I feel it urgent to state that, if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed. So great is the value  of a human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the mother’s womb, that no alleged right to one’s own body can justify a decision to terminate that life, which is an end in itself and which can never be con- sidered the “property” of another human being. The family protects human life in all its stages, including its last. Consequently, “those who work in healthcare facilities are reminded of the moral duty of conscientious objection. Similarly, the Church not only feels the urgency to assert the right to a natural death, without aggressive treatment and euthanasia”, but likewise “firmly rejects the death penalty”.93

84.                          The Synod Fathers also wished to empha- size that “one of the fundamental challenges fac- ing families today is undoubtedly that of raising children, made all the more difficult and complex by today’s cultural reality and the powerful influ- ence of  the media”.94     “The Church assumes  a

92    Ibid., 57.

93    Relatio Finalis 2015, 64.

94    Relatio Synodi 2014, 60.

valuable role in supporting families, starting with Christian initiation, through welcoming commu- nities”.95 At the same time I feel it important to reiterate that the overall education of children is a “most serious duty” and at the same time a “pri- mary right” of parents.96 This is not just a task  or a burden, but an essential and inalienable right that parents are called to defend and of which no one may claim to deprive them. The State offers educational programmes in a subsidiary way, sup- porting the parents in their indeclinable role; par- ents themselves enjoy the right to choose freely the kind of education – accessible and of good quality – which they wish to give their children in accordance with their convictions. Schools do not replace parents, but complement them. This is a basic principle: “all other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization”.97 Still, “a rift has opened up between the family and society, between family and the school; the educational pact today has been broken and thus the educational alliance between society and the family is in crisis”.98

95    Ibid., 61

96 Code of Canon Law, c. 1136; cf. Code of Canons of  the Eastern Churches, 627.

97 ponTificaL counciL for The famiLy, The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (8 December 1995), 23.

98 Catechesis (20 May 2015): L’Osservatore Romano, 21 May 2015, p. 8.

85.                   The Church is called to cooperate with par- ents through suitable pastoral initiatives, assisting them in the fulfilment of their educational mis- sion. She must always do this by helping them  to appreciate their proper role and to realize that by their reception of the sacrament of  mar- riage they become ministers of their children’s education. In educating them, they build up the Church,99 and in so doing, they accept a God- given vocation.100

The famiLy and The church

86.                   “With inner joy and deep comfort, the Church looks to the families who remain faith- ful to the teachings of the Gospel, encouraging them and thanking them for the testimony they offer. For they bear witness, in a credible way, to the beauty of marriage as indissoluble and per- petually faithful. Within the family ‘which could be called a domestic church’ (Lumen Gentium, 11), individuals enter upon an ecclesial experience  of communion among persons, which reflects, through grace, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. ‘Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – for- giveness, and above all divine worship in  prayer

99 John pauL II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio

(28 November 1981) 38: AAS 74 (1982), 129.

100 Cf. Address to the Diocesan Conference of Rome (14 June 2015): L’Osservatore Romano, 15-16 June 2015, p. 8.

and the offering of one’s life’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1657)”.101

87.                     The Church is a family of families, con- stantly enriched by the lives of all those domestic churches. “In virtue of the sacrament of matri- mony, every family becomes, in effect, a good for the Church. From this standpoint, reflecting on the interplay between the family and the Church will prove a precious gift for the Church in our time. The Church is good for the family, and the family is good for the Church. The safeguarding of the Lord’s gift in the sacrament of matrimony is a concern not only of individual families but of the entire Christian community”.102

88.                     The experience of love in families is a perennial source of  strength  for  the  life  of  the Church. “The unitive end of marriage is a constant summons to make this love grow and deepen. Through their union in love, the couple experiences the beauty of fatherhood and moth- erhood, and shares plans, trials, expectations and concerns; they learn care for one another and mutual forgiveness. In this love, they celebrate their happy moments and support each other   in the difficult passages of their life together… The beauty of this mutual, gratuitous gift, the joy which comes from a life that is born and the lov- ing care of  all family members – from  toddlers

101    Relatio Synodi 2014, 23.

102    Relatio Finalis 2015, 52.

to seniors – are just a few of the fruits which make the response to the vocation of the family unique and irreplaceable”,103 both for the Church and for society as a whole.

103    Ibid., 49-50.