Pope to AL conference: form consciences, accompany
faithful
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis sent a video message on Saturday
morning, to participants in a conference organized by the Italian Bishops
Conference (CEI) on Pope Francis’ post-Synodal Exhortation, Amoris
Laetitia.
Under the theme, The Gospel of Love between
Conscience and Norm, the participants are exploring how to respond to
the desire for family that emerges in the soul of the young
generations, and seeking together ways to help the faithful assimilate and
develop Amoris laetitia’s content and style, contribute to pastoral
outreach to families in parishes, communities and ecclesial movements, and
support all families on their journey through life, helping them to live the
joy of the Gospel, and be active cells in the community.
In the message, the Holy Father says, “The family born of
marriage creates fruitful bonds, which reveal themselves to be the most
effective antidote against the individualism that currently runs rampant;
however, along the journey of marital love and family life there are situations
that require arduous choices, which must be made with rectitude.”
He also stresses the role of pastors in forming consciences,
so that the Christian faithful are capable of full moral agency.
“[W]e are called to form consciences," he says,
citing Amoris laetitia 37, “not to pretend to substitute
them.”
He renews his warning against what he has described as,
“[E]go-latry, that is, of a true worship of the ego, on whose altar is
sacrificed everything, including the dearest affections.” He goes on to say,
“This perspective is not harmless: it molds a subject that looks constantly in
the mirror, until it becomes incapable of turning its eyes to others and the
world.”
The role of conscience – beginning with a right
understanding of it – was a central focus of the Holy Father’s recorded
remarks.
“The contemporary world,” he says in the message, “risks
confusing the primacy of conscience, which is always to be respected, with the
exclusive autonomy of the individual with respect to the relations that he
entertains in life.”
“In the very depths of each one of us,” Pope Francis says,
“there is a place wherein the Mystery reveals itself, and illuminates the
person, making the person the protagonist of his story.” “Conscience, as the II
Vatican Council recalls, is this, ‘most secret core and sanctuary of a man.
There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths. (GS 16)’
To the Christian falls the task of being vigilant, so that in this sort of
tabernacle is no want of divine grace, which illuminates and strengthens
married love and parental mission. Grace fills the amphorae of
human hearts with an extraordinary capacity for gift, renewing for the families
of today the miracle of the wedding feast at Cana.”
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