Positive Definitions of the Christian Family in the Papal Teaching after Vaticanum II as a Challenge for the Pastoral Initiatives in the Amoris Laetitia Family Year

Abstract

In the Church’s teaching, the family founded on the marital union of a man and a woman appears to be a pastoral priority and a fundamental reality that demands special attention. In connection with the Synod of Bishops on the Family, this topic has been present in both academic and media debate. It should be noted, however, that the image of the family presented in that debate has not always depicted its positive dimension. In many cases, the interlocutors only discussed questions concerning the crisis of the family, addressing such issues asthe place of divorcees in the community of the Church and their possible admission to receive the Holy Communion or the worrying factors which aim to weaken this fundamental unit of the society. But in the teaching of the Church, the family is shown as a positive reality. In this study, the author focuses his attention on two main concepts of the family presented in the apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia, that is the family as the fundamental unit of the society and the family as a Domestic Church.