Family relationships and polar opposition: Being equal while remaining different

Abstract

On the fifth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, this article focuses on the importance of family relationships in our globalized world. The family allows everyone to feel equal while remaining different. In tune with Romano Guardini, Pope Francis uses the dialectic of polar opposition to describe the unity in diversity typical of authentic family life (part 1). He notes, however, that the technocratic paradigm, homogeneous and one-dimensional, cancels out this dynamic, thus opening the way to globalized indifference and the throwaway culture (part 2). Therefore, the Pope invites us to rebuild family relationships and preserve polar opposition at our four fundamental levels: spiritual, personal, social and natural (part 3).