The Vatican meeting of the world’s bishops’ conference presidents and the heads of Eastern Catholic churches marking the 10th anniversary of Amoris Laetitia concluded this week with prayers for Pope Leo XIV’s recovery from lung cancer surgery. Source: OSV News.
Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod who helped to organise the meeting, said on Wednesday that “accompaniment” was one of the key words in the week’s discussions of marriage and family.
Reflecting on the significance of the experience at the event’s final press conference on Wednesday, Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna said that he is bringing with him from this meeting “a renewed commitment to put the family at the center of the Church’s pastoral mission.”
“‘Amoris Laetitia 10 years ago stimulated, provoked, an invitation for pastoral conversion, an attitude of listening to families, before judging, and also discerning situations with … open hearts, seeking the will of God, but also facilitating the meeting with God’s mercy,” Archbishop Scicluna said.
In the closing session of the Vatican family summit, participants listened to a presentation of the meeting’s synthesis report.
Due to the personal request of Pope Leo prior to his surgery, the meeting’s final synthesis report will not be made public until the pope has had time to personally review it.
Fr Costa said that the Pope requested to postpone the meeting’s final report, noting that Pope Leo “wanted to listen to it and be able to offer his own word on it himself.”
“I will read the fruits of your work and discussions, and offer my reflections in due course,” Pope Leo wrote in a brief message to the participants signed on the day of his surgery.
“I encourage you to begin to share with your Episcopal Conferences and Dioceses what you have lived and received, and to continue proclaiming the Gospel with families, drawing on the richness of Amoris Laetitia,’” the pope said.
The bishops, patriarchs, families and experts taking part in the meeting on marriage and family in Paul VI Hall met for more than 42 hours of discussions from October 7 to 14 on topics ranging from cohabitation of young couples to influencers on social media portraying “traditional” families, often referred to as “trad wife” culture.
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Bishops conclude Vatican family meeting as Pope Leo XIV recovers in hospital (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
