GENERAL AUDIENCE 10 DECEMBER 2014
NEW CYCLE OF CATECHESIS ON THE FAMILY
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014
Vatican City, 10 December 2014
(VIS) – Having concluded his catechesis on the Church, in today's general
audience Pope Francis began a new series dedicated to the family, “a new cycle
in this intermediate period between two Synod Assemblies dedicated to this
important reality”. Before considering the different aspects of family life,
Francis began by speaking about the Synod held last October on the theme
“Pastoral challenges to the family in the context of new evangelisation”.
The Pontiff first praised the
work of the Holy See Press Office during the Synod, and the good work
accomplished by the media responsible for covering the assembly. He went on to
mention the events and results of the assembly, and emphasised that at no point
was there any form of censorship and that the Synod Fathers were entirely free
to speak frankly. “The only think I asked of them was that they speak with
sincerity and courage, and listen with humility”.
He explained that the Instrumentum laboris always remained the
basis of all the interventions that took place, and that this document was the
result of a previous consultation involving all of the Church. He remarked that
“no intervention challenged the fundamental truths of the Sacrament of
Marriage: indissolubility, unity, fidelity and openness to life”. All these
interventions, in a second phase, were gathered together and gave rise to the Relatio post disceptationem or the
post-discussion report, which was divided into three sections: listening to the
context and the challenges to the family; looking steadily at Christ and the
Gospel of the family, and comparison with pastoral perspectives. The third
phase, the group discussions, followed this first approach at a summary.
Finally, at the end of its work, each group presented a report and all the
group reports were published immediately, “with transparency, so that what was
happening was made known”.
Finally, a commission examined
all the suggestions that emerged from the groups and the a Final Report was
produced, maintaining the same structure as before – listening, looking to the
Gospel and pastoral ministry – which was then sent to all the Episcopal
Conferences worldwide to enable discussion prior to the Ordinary Assembly,
scheduled for October 2015. As always, a Final Message from the Synod was
approved, more concise and informative compared to the Report. The Holy Father
remarked that the Synod Fathers “did not argue, but there were animated
discussions. This is the freedom of the Church”, and added that there are three
official Synod documents: the Final Message, the Final Report, and the Pope's
concluding discourse.
The Bishop of Rome emphasised that the Synod is not a parliament but rather
a protected space that allows the Holy Spirit to intervene, and that now the
work of prayer, reflection and fraternal discussion must continue in the
particular Churches in preparation for the upcoming Assembly. “Let us commend
it to the protection of the Virgin Mother, so that she may help us to follow
God's will in making pastoral decisions that offer greater and better help to
families”, he concluded.
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