Pope Leo’s message for the 10th anniversary
of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love)
Dear brothers and sisters,
On March 19, 2016, Pope Francis offered the universal Church a luminous message of hope regarding conjugal love and family life.
This message was the fruit of three years of synodal discernment, enriched by the Jubilee Year of Mercy, and was published as an apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
On this tenth anniversary, we thank the Lord for encouraging reflection and pastoral conversion in the Church.
We also ask God for the courage to persevere on this path, and to always welcome the Gospel anew with joy, proclaiming it to all.
The Second Vatican Council taught that the family is “the basis of society, a gift from God and “a school for human enrichment.
Through the sacrament of marriage, Christian spouses establish a domestic church, whose role is essential to teaching and transmitting the faith.
Since the Council, two apostolic exhortations have strengthened the Church’s doctrinal and pastoral commitment to serving young people, married couples and families:
Familiaris Consortio — issued by St. John Paul II in 1981 — and Amoris Laetitia,
Recognizing that “anthropological and cultural changes” have become increasingly pronounced over the past thirty-five years, Pope Francis sought to further engage the Church in the path of synodal discernment.
During the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family on October 17, 2015, he delivered an address calling for mutual listening within the people of God: “All should listen to the Holy Spirit, ‘the Spirit of truth’ (John 14:17), to know what he ‘says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7).”
He explained that speaking about the family s impossible without engaging with families themselves and listening to their joys, hopes, sorrows, and anguish.
Amoris Laetitia offers valuable teachings from the fruits of synodal discernment that we must continue to examine today:
First, the biblical hope of God’s loving and merciful presence allows us to experience “love stories” even when facing “family crises”;
Second, it invites us to adopt “the gaze of Jesus” and tirelessly to encourage “the growth, strengthening and deepening of conjugal and family love”;
Finally, the call to recognize that love in marriage “always gives life” and is ‘real’ in its “limited and earthly” form, as the mystery of the Incarnation teaches us.
Pope Francis affirmed the need “for new pastoral methods” and better education of children. He invited the Church to accompany, discern, and integrate fragility, overcoming a reductive
He also encouraged the promotion of “the spirituality that unfolds in family life.”
As I told the young people gathered at Tor Vergata during the Jubilee of Hope, “fragility is part of the marvel of creation…
We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static,
Rather, we are made for an existence that is constantly renewed through gift of self in love.” In order to fulfil our mission of proclaiming the Gospel of the family to younger generations, we must learn to highlight the beauty of the vocation to marriage precisely in the face of fragility, This will help us to reawaken trust in God’s grace and the Christian desire for holiness.
We must also support families, especially those suffering from the many forms of poverty and violence present in contemporary society.
We thank the Lord for families who, despite difficulties and challenges, embody the spirituality of family love through thousands of small but meaningful gestures.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the pastors, pastoral workers, associations of the faithful, and ecclesial movements that are engaged in family ministry.
Our era is marked by rapid changes, making it more necessary than ever before to pay particular pastoral attention to families.
The Lord entrusts them with the task of participating in the Church’s mission of proclaiming and bearing witness to the Gospel.
In some places and circumstances, the Church can only become the “salt of the earth” through the lay faithful, particularly families.
Therefore, the Church must renew and deepen its commitment in this area so that those called to marriage and family life can fully live out their conjugal love in Christ and so that young people may be attracted to the beauty of the vocation to marriage within the Church.
In light of the ongoing changes impacting families, I have decided to convene the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences from around the world in October 2026.
Together, we will engage in mutual listening and synodal discernment to determine the best ways to proclaim the Gospel to families today.
This process will consider Amoris Laetitia and the current efforts of local churches.
I entrust this journey to the intercession of St. Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
From the Vatican, 19 March 2026, Solemnity of Saint Joseph
LEO PP. XIV
