POPE LEO’S SUMMIT … AND YOUR FAMILY LIFE

The current Vatican summit on the 10-year anniversary of Amoris Laetitia—convened by Pope Leo XIV from Oct. 7-14—has the goal of finding more effective ways of “proclaiming the Gospel with families today.” But it may not be registering on your news feed, popping up in your dinner table conversation, or getting coverage in your pastor’s Sunday homily.

Nevertheless, it’s big. And even though it’s a closed-door meeting and the proceedings are largely confidential, we’d like to suggest that the summit can be a bridge to an important step in your own family’s deepening communion.

So, as we pray for Pope Leo’s operation to remove a nodule from his lung (scheduled for today, Oct. 13), here are seven brief practical ideas for you and your family to consider. All quotes are from Pope Leo’s opening homily, unless otherwise noted:   

1.  Be “attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit” in a “school of listening.” Pope Leo XIV encouraged all participants to enter into the summit proceedings in this way. Each new day that we awaken to God’s mercies and His plan for our marriage and family, we can invite the Holy Spirit to guide us—and then, we can remain attentive to the Holy Spirit throughout the day. At times, our homes can even become schools of listening.  

2.  Don’t jump to solutions. Pope Leo XIV beautifully invited the participants “not only to interpret these realities but to let them question and motivate our pastoral responsibility.” As leaders in our own domestic churches, are we prone to interpreting and jumping to solutions? Or instead, can we grow in patience, allowing our children’s limitations and wounds to “question and motivate” our responsibility as parents?

3.  Recognize the “beauty and fragility,” “limits, wounds and apparent failure” within your own family. Pope Leo XIV began the summit with this candid call to place these realities “at the heart” of the discussions. In our own families, do we likewise recognize our own “beauty and fragility,” our limits and wounds, bringing them daily before the Lord in prayer? When our children are most fragile, do they encounter our “patience, closeness and mercy” as parents?

4.  Stay close to our young people and witness to the joy of marriage. Pope Leo XIV summarized the situation of young adults poignantly: “Young people continue to long for love, fidelity and belonging, yet many find it difficult to embrace how such a vision of love can take shape in their own lives or to believe that a lifelong commitment is the condition for reaching what they desire.” How can each of us draw closer to young adults to encourage them to discover the lifelong commitment they so desire?

5.  Share the beauty of the Church’s teaching on sexuality, marriage and the family. As Pope Leo XIV said, “In many contexts, a growing distance has emerged between the ways in which sex and intimacy are lived and the Christian vision of marriage.” In this age when so many have fallen away from the faith, we as Christian spouses and parents have a heightened duty to learn, live, teach, and share this vision for the human person.   

6.  Make a difference in the “decisive time” of the first years of marriage. The third (of five) days of summit discussions focused on the theme “Married life. The first years of marriage: a decisive time.” The Vatican’s preparatory note stated it well: “It is during these early years that many of the human and spiritual resources are cultivated that will help spouses navigate the different seasons of family life.” If you’re in the first years of marriage, use the time well to set strong foundations for the many seasons ahead. And if you’re no longer in the first years of marriage, how might you befriend, encourage, and serve the young couples in your neighborhood and parish?  

7.  Face the toughest questions your family has today with courage. Pope Leo XIV called all participants to “face with courage” the countless challenges besetting families today. Catholic University of America’s Dr. Andrew Abela defines courage as “the habit of doing the right thing even though you’re afraid,” and he goes on to describe is as “the habit for dealing with our fears.” As families, may we pray for an increase in the virtue of courage/fortitude in our daily life, so that we may lead our families heavenwards!

As a next step, Pope Leo XIV will receive (and eventually make public) a “synthesis report” to summarize the Oct. 7-14 meeting. We look forward to that release, but in the meantime, we are so grateful for the ways that Pope Leo XIV is turning the Church’s attention to the family: to both its “beauty” and “fragility.” In doing so, he is setting the tone for every bishop, pastor, parish, and yes … for us, for every parent who is entrusted with the sacred responsibility to impart to our children the gift of faith.