Familiaris consortio
Familiaris consortio Latin for 'The fellowship of the family' Apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II | |||||||||||||||||||
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Signature date | 22 November 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||
Number | 2 of 15 of the pontificate | ||||||||||||||||||
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Familiaris consortio (The fellowship of the family; subtitled On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World) is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation written by Pope John Paul II and promulgated on 22 November 1981. SummaryThe document describes the position of the Catholic Church on the meaning and role of marriage and the family, and outlines challenges towards realizing that ideal. It refers to marriage as "one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our time"[1] as "the foundation of the wider community of the family, since the very institution of marriage and conjugal love are ordained to the procreation and education of children, in whom they find their crowning."[2] Among other observations, Familiaris consortio restates the Church's opposition to artificial birth control, stated previously in Humanae vitae, and briefly mentions the opposition of the Church to abortion. It also discusses the responsibility and expectations of the family regarding the education of children. It continues with a description of the expectations of the family relative to the larger society, including service to the poor. The document establishes that "any violence" applied "in favor of contraception or, still worse, of sterilization and procured abortion, must be altogether condemned and forcefully rejected".[3] It foresees the restoration of the Covenant mediated by Jesus Christ God,[4] and the restoration of the society in compliance with the God's plan of salvation for all the human kind.[5] The final (and more articulated) portion of the document describes expectations of the family which more directly involve the Catholic Faith in daily life, relating it to several of the Catholic sacraments, particularly marriage, and strongly urging family prayer. In particular, this section of the document restates the expectation of a permanent Catholic union for all members of the Church seeking marriage. It rejects the acceptability of alternative arrangements, including "trial marriages", exclusively civil marriages, and unions with no publicly recognized bond. Pope Francis' Amoris laetitiaIn 2016, Pope Francis published the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia. Various media outlets said there was a potential change in Church teaching on the reception of the Eucharist by those who have divorced and remarried, to which the media said Francis alluded in footnote no. 351,[6] which reads (with footnoted body text in italics):
Reports addressed the apparent contradictions between this footnote and Familiaris consortio and John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et paenitentiae. Some traditionalists, notably Kazhakstani Bishop Athanasius Schneider and the group Voice of the Family, have criticized Francis' exhortation. Voice of the Family has called on him to "recognise the grave errors in the recently published Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, in particular those sections which will lead to the desecration of the Holy Eucharist and to the harming of our children, and to withdraw the Apostolic Exhortation with immediate effect."[6] See alsoReferences
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