Francis Asks Us to Enlarge Our Understanding

Unity, Growth & Love in the Church 

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Francis Asks Us to Enlarge Our Understanding

Peter Steinfels April 13, 2016 - 3:08pm 0 commentsPrintEmail

No doubt Pope Francis anticipated that within hours of issuing Amoris Laetitia, battle lines would be forming—once again. Nonetheless, this “apostolic exhortation” is a valiant and powerful exercise in the Petrine ministry of upholding church unity. Francis achieves this in the deft summation and synthesis of the two synods on the family and in the counterbalancing of two chapters. He describes one as setting forth “some essential aspects of the church’s teaching on marriage and the family” and the other as “the pastoral discernment of those situations that fall short of what the Lord demands of us.”

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