Pope's health overshadows family, marriage meeting

Despite a week-long Vatican gathering on marriage and family life being overshadowed by Pope Leo XIV's medical condition, those in attendance stayed focused on the task at hand. 

The Pope was expected to take part in discussions surrounding the 10-year legacy of Pope Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia (”The Joy of Love”), published March 19, 2016, in the aftermath of the 2014 and 2015 Synods on the family. 

Ultimately, Pope Leo XIV’s lone appearance at the Oct. 7-14 event at the Vatican was for his opening day address. The new Dean of the College of Cardinals, Filipino Cardinal Antonio Tagle, stepped up to celebrate the final Mass and read Pope Leo’s homily while the Bishop of Rome, now diagnosed with lung cancer, recovered from surgery at Gemelli Hospital to remove the lower lobe of his right lung.

Advertisement

Attendees honoured Pope Leo while he was in hospital by keeping at their work of apprising the first decade of Amoris Laetitia. The nearly 200 participants engaged in daily plenaries, small-group working discussions and time spent in prayer as they contemplated important topics such as marriage preparation, the effects of social media on family life, young people choosing cohabitation rather than marriage and challenges experienced by migrant and refugee families. 

Looking forward, there were some major takeaways from the meeting that could influence the life of the Canadian and universal Church. There was general acknowledgement that the traditional norm of Catholic family life — a mother and father blessed with several children — is becoming an exception in many cultures. A commitment to accompanying and listening to families and individuals in complex situations was declared. 

“People who experience situations outside the norm don't need to be rejected or to be made to feel that they don't have a place in the Church, but we need to accompany them and help them discern a path forward,” said Fr. Raymond Lafontaine, a table facilitator of small group discussion for the third time since 2024. 

There was also a strong call to adopt a more catechumenal approach to preparing men and women for the Sacrament of Marriage, said the pastor of St. Veronica's Parish in Dorval, Que. This would mean accompanying people as they discern whether marriage is right for them rather than encountering couples when they are already set for marriage. 

It was also proposed, said Lafontaine, for couples to be sponsored just like catechumens are in RCIA.

Advertisement

“We should have older couples who can be mentors and sponsors for younger couples, and accompany them not only up to the marriage, up to the date of their marriage, but to continue to accompany them.”

The third standout insight from Lafontaine’s perspective was the call for Christian families to be “protagonists of the Church’s mission.”

“It’s always the sense of the Church having to provide a service for people, as opposed to how do we empower and enable families to live out their deeper identity as that they are the domestic Church? Family life is a place where holiness is lived, and where the faith is lived, and that Christian families have something very necessary to share with society.“

Of course the Pope's hospitalization was never far from the minds of those in attendance. Lafontaine said the meeting attendees sent a collective message to the Pope to express “we were united with him in prayer, we’re praying that the surgery be successful and wishing him a full recovery.”

He relayed to The Catholic Register that this news came as a “bit of a shock” and urged Catholics to determinedly pray for Pope Leo’s healing.

“He’s really showing his remarkable qualities of leadership,” said Lafontaine. “I must say that he's such a breath of fresh air. I mean not compared to the previous popes, but with what is going on in the world right now. Pope Leo has been a real moral leader, voice of reason and a voice of compassion. 

Advertisement

“I think that we are well invested in praying for his full recovery because I think that's going to be really important. He’s been a real blessing for the Church.”

Along with Lafontaine, the Canadians who participated were Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops president Pierre Goudreault, Hamilton Bishop Joseph Dabrowski, Cardinal Gerald Lacroix of the Quebec archdiocese and lay married couple Audrey Boucher and Jean-Pierre Landry. 

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)