Pope Leo XIV: Family, Gift, and Task

With an Audience by the Holy Father Leo XIV, Friday, 19 September, the Jubilee and Synodal Meeting for Hopeful Discernment on the Future of Life and the Family came to an end. The Meeting lasted three days and was held in Rome. Representatives of formation centres in the Social Doctrine of the Church from Latin America and the Caribbean, together with invitees from North America, Africa, and Europe, agreed to develop common strategies to face the great challenges of the care for life, but also the cultural and structural challenges in a world in crisis. The need to study the family as a learning institution requiring meaningful and valid topics and proposals for today’s life was analysed.

Threats to the dignity of the family: poverty, migrations, wars

In his message to participants in the Meeting, Pope Leo XVI stated: “We are aware that today there are real threats to the dignity of the family such as poverty, lack of employment, lack of access to health care, abuse of the most vulnerable, migration and wars.” The Pope also called upon public institutions and the Church: “Seek ways to promote dialogue and strengthen the aspects of society that support family life and the education of its members.”

Family, home for spreading hope

The Holy Father then pointed out a method to all participants: “We can understand the family as a gift and a task. It is crucial to foster the co-responsibility and protagonism of families in social, political, and cultural life, promoting their valuable contribution to the community. In every child, in every wife or husband, God entrusts us with his Son, his Mother, as he did with St. Joseph, so that together with them we may be the foundation, the leaven, and the witness of God’s love among men. To be a domestic Church and a home where the fire of the Holy Spirit burns, spreading its warmth, contributing its gifts and experiences for the common good, and calling everyone to live in hope.”

Synodal method to address the challenges faced by families in the peripheries

During the Meeting, the synodal method was used to propose listening, discernment, and initiate processes that address the challenges faced by families in the peripheries. With this in mind, one of the conclusions of the meeting of the formation centres in the Social Doctrine of the Church was to recommend specific training opportunities, enabling representatives of local Churches to strengthen their knowledge in order to act, understanding the multiplicity of factors that put a strain on life and the family.

The Meeting was convened by the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Catholic Social Thought (REDLAPSI / CELAM) and jointly organized by the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II (PITJP II), the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (PCAL), and the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). The Meeting was sponsored by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, by Caritas Latin America and the Caribbean, and by the Confederation of Latin American Religious (CLAR).