Pope Francis, Amoirs Laetitia, and the Tradition of the Church

On April 8^th, Pope Francis promulgated his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, or The Joy of Love.  The document is a kind of summary of two synods (or gatherings) of bishops over the last two years discussing marriage and family.  Amoris Laetitia is like the Pope’s encouragement to the Church regarding marriage and family in light of the discussions at the synods.

Amoris Laetitia runs to over 250 pages, and commentators from all quarters of the Church and secular world have been quick to pull out texts to form sound bites appropriate for the nightly news or social media.  Some are quick to claim that the Pope is changing doctrine or Church discipline.  Others point out that this is simply not the case, nor is it even possible.  Like any papal text of such density, however, it will take the Church some time to read, study, and appropriate the Holy Father’s words.

It’s of the greatest importance to realize that Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia did not arise in a vacuum.  The Pope’s new exhortation stands as one element within a great tradition of Catholic thought on marriage and family, and must be read in light of that tradition.  Teachings on marriage and family go all the way back to Jesus Himself as recorded in the Gospels, and to St. Paul and the other biblical writers.  The biblical witness to marriage and family must remain normative for us since it reflects either the very words of Christ Himself, or otherwise the inspired word of God in the scriptures.  There is also a great wealth of teaching regarding marriage and family in the early Church Fathers, as well as saints and doctors of the Church throughout the centuries.  Even in the last century, the Popes have frequently offered teaching on marriage and family, most notably Pope Pius XI’s Casti Connubii (1930), Blessed Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae (1968), and Pope St. John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio (1981), as well as his group of teachings known collectively as The Theology of the Body.  It is this tradition of Catholic thought that can act as an effective key for reading and understanding Pope Francis’ latest link in the great chain of church teaching on marriage and the family.

But how can we distill such a wealth of wisdom from so many authors over so long a period of time?  Thanks be to God, the Church has given us the Catechism of the Catholic Church, an authentic summary of this great tradition that pulls from and incorporates all these sources.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church deals with marriage and family under the heading of the seven sacraments, as well as in the context of living the moral life in Christ.  Hence, over the next several weeks, these articles will focus on an overview of the beautiful Catholic teaching on marriage and family as it is presented in the Catechism.  After that, we will be ready to look at a summary of Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia.

So next week we will ask a very fundamental question: What is marriage?  Perhaps take the next week and ask yourself how you would answer that question: What is marriage?  How would you define it?  Why does marriage exist?  What is the purpose or goal of marriage?  This is the most basic question we can ask, because until we know what something is we can’t know anything about how to use it, what will make it thrive, or what could make it suffer.