The pope officially opened the "Amoris laetitia Family Year" on Friday. With a video message, Francis highlighted the importance of his letter on marriage and family published five years ago.
He invited all believers to read the document again and reflect on it.
Compassion needed
"Amoris laetitia" conveys that in view of profound changes "a new look" of the Catholic Church on the family is necessary. It is not enough to reaffirm the importance of the traditional doctrine. At the same time, compassion is needed to care for fragility and wounds.
The "dictatorship of feelings, the glorification of the provisional" makes family ties unstable nowadays, Pope says. The task of the Church is to free human relationships from the "slavery" that often distorts them.
"Immerse yourself in real life"
To do this, one must "immerse oneself in real life" in order to understand the hardships of husbands and parents, the 84-year-old stressed. "We are called to accompany the journey of families, to listen, to bless."A doctrine from above without the "flesh" of everyday life, on the other hand, runs the risk of remaining a beautiful theory.
The "Amoris laetitia year" is being organized under the leadership of the Vatican’s family dicastery. A whole series of events and projects is planned. They should give new impetus to the implementation of the Apostolic Exhortation. The campaign will end at the World Meeting of Families with the Pope in Rome in June 2022.