Farrell says ‘Amoris Laetitia’ does not change church teaching

The apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia has been described as a “changing point” and a “guide for marriage preparation for the future in the Church” by the Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

Speaking to the press after his presentation to delegates from 50 countries in Dublin for a conference on next year’s World Meeting of Families in Ireland, Cardinal Kevin Farrell said the document “is central to this gathering” and the “basis of everything that we do in the future on married life and family”. He said he saw WMF2018 as the beginning of a process, and hoped “we would give more attention to preparing couples for married life and family rather than fixate on the challenges and difficulties we know couples experience in married life”.

Questioned on the opposition of some prelates to the exhortation, he said he didn’t agree with those opinions and  warned against approaching  Amoris Laetitia with a “preconceived idea”. “I do not think the document in any way changes church teaching,” he said, adding that revelation of God’s mystery and understanding of life is ongoing.

Pope Francis’ letter to the bishops of Argentina about Amoris Laetitia highlighted that the Church needs to accompany people, the cardinal said. “Not all marriages are successful … There was a tendency [in the past] of putting people who were ‘public sinners’, as they used to say, out of the Church. Why did Christ come on earth? To save sinners.”

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who is president of the gathering, stressed that the World Meeting of Families will be a moment when the Church will speak of both the challenges and the joys of family life. He described Amoris Laetitia as “quite revolutionary in Church terms”.