Amour Laetitia Section 196 – 198 (Pope Francis)

These passages talk about how the family’s small community, made up of extended family and close friends, should work.

196 A big heart

196.1 In addition to the small circle of the couple and their children, there is the larger family, which cannot be overlooked. 196.2 Indeed, “the love between husband and wife and, in a derivative and broader way, the love between members of the same family – between parents and children, brothers and sisters and relatives and members of the household – is given life and sustenance by an unceasing inner dynamism leading the family to ever deeper and more intense communion, which is the foundation and soul of the community of marriage and the family”.223 196.3 Friends and other families are part of this larger family, as well as communities of families who support one another in their difficulties, their social commitments and their faith.

197.1 This larger family should provide love and support to teenage mothers, children without parents, single mothers left to raise children, persons with disabilities needing particular affection and closeness, young people struggling with addiction, the unmarried, separated or widowed who are alone, and the elderly and infirm who lack the support of their children. 197.2 It should also embrace “even those who have made shipwreck of their lives”.224 197.3 This wider family can help make up for the shortcomings of parents, detect and report possible situations in which children suffer violence and even abuse, and provide wholesome love and family stability in cases when parents prove incapable of this.

198.1 Finally, we cannot forget that this larger family includes fathers-in-law, mothers-in-law and all the relatives of the couple. 198.2 One particularly delicate aspect of love is learning not to view these relatives as somehow competitors, threats or intruders. 198.3 The conjugal union demands respect for their traditions and customs, an effort to understand their language and to refrain from criticism, caring for them and cherishing them while maintaining the legitimate privacy and independence of the couple. 198.4 Being willing to do so is also an exquisite expression of generous love for one’s spouse.

NOTE 223: John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981), 18: AAS 74 (1982), 101