The work of conscience in complex emotional and marital situations

Abstract

By convening a synod of bishops on “The Tasks of the Christian Family in the World Today” in 1980, Saint Pope John Paul II initiated a new way for the Church to examine human responsibility in the realm of marriage. This was in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which had chosen to address the “Dignity of Marriage and the Family”, thereby linking ethical reflection on marriage with that on the family. Pope Francis continued this movement by convening another synod of bishops on the theme of the family, with a longer reflection process (2013-2015) that included a consultation of local Churches and two successive assemblies. This resulted in two post-synodal apostolic exhortations, Familiaris consortio (hereafter, FC) in 1981 and Amoris laetitia (hereafter, AL) in 2016. To interpret the fruits of this synodal process spread over 35 years, the moral theologian is attentive to the shifts that occur, not only when marriage is related to the family, now established as a new doctrinal subject, but also when it leads to a renewed ethical appreciation of ecclesial practices regarding the conjugal life of the baptised. [excerpt]