The Joy of Love (Amoris Laetitia): The Papal Exhortation in Its Context

Abstract

This article summarizes the teaching on marriage and the family offered by the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) and by the 1981 post-synodal, apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II, The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World ( Familiaris Consortio). Against this background, the content and language of The Final Report issued at the end of the second session of the synod on the family (October 4–25) are examined. These considerations lead to an evaluation of the continuity and change in teaching found in Pope Francis’s post-synodal, apostolic exhortation, The Joy of Love ( Amoris Laetitia).