Pope Francis releases final document of Family Synod

Pope Francis has made public the conclusions of his two Synods on the family. The Apostolic Exhortation released today is entitled 'Amoris Laetitia' or 'The Joy of Love'.

A document released today comes at the end of a two-year synod process discussing both the beauty and challenges of family life today. In 2014 the Vatican hosted an Extraordinary Synod which was in preparation for the October 2015 Ordinary Synod. An estimated 190 bishops from around the world participated in each gathering. The 2015 Synod's theme was "the vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world."

At the conclusion of the Synod last year, Pope Francis called for a realistic engagement with the realities facing families today. A questionnaire had been sent to families across the world asking them about their hopes and their fears.

The panel of speakers at today's press conference included: Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops; Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., archbishop of Vienna, and an Italian married couple: Professor Francesco Miano, lecturer in moral philosophy at Rome's University of Tor Vergata, and his wife, Professor Giuseppina De Simone in Miano, lecturer in philosophy at the Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples.

Document 'The Joy of Love'

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia.html