Preparation for Marriage and Family Life in Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia

Abstract

Pope Francis’ teaching on preparation for marriage and family life in his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia reflects his concern for providing engaged couples with a holistic human and Christian formation that will preparing them to responsibly realize their vocation to marriage and family. This task is particularly important because families today are broken and the value of marriage is under attack. The environment in which engaged couples are immersed is very important in the process of preparing them for marriage and family life, since it is the place where the personality of the new family members is formed. For this reason, Pope Francis offers new pastoral initiatives that aim at increasing the effectiveness of marriage preparation by engaging missionary families and the families of the engaged couples as well as “a variety of pastoral resources.” In his exhortation, Pope Francis shows the importance of freedom of choice, fidelity, and the indissolubility of the marriage bond. He also points out the importance of having the proper approach to the marriage celebration and wedding reception. Pope Francis encourages engaged couples to opt for modest and simple celebrations “in which love takes precedence over everything else” (AL 212) because love has the power to unite spouses if it is “strengthened and sanctified by grace [of the sacrament]”.