Rome, Italy, September 27, 2018 / 10:42 a.m. (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has stressed the need for ongoing formation for couples, before and after marriage, saying that even the basic teachings of the Church “could not be taken for granted. The pope addressed the participants of a recent course on marriage and family life held in Rome.
Speaking Sept. 27 in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran before an audience of priests, deacons and laity, Francis renewed his call for a “permanent catechumenate for the sacrament of marriage,” saying it was essential that couples receive ongoing formation. before and after their marriage.
The course, which ran Sept. 24-26, was sponsored by the Diocese of Rome and the Roman Rota, the church‘s highest court of appeals that deals with marriage nullity cases.
Francis has previously emphasized the need for better, longer and more comprehensive instruction for couples in his annual addresses to the Rota.
“The greatest effectiveness of pastoral care is achieved where accompaniment does not end with the celebration of marriage, but accompanies them at least during the first years of married life,” the pope said.
Francis told attendees that marriage was “a vast, complex and delicate apostolic field” that required all the energy and enthusiasm of the Church.
Praising St. John Paul II’s “courageous” witness to the family in the modern world, Francis said he seeks to build on the legacy of his “foresighted” predecessors through his canon law reform in the case of nullity of marriage and in the pastoral application. of his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The pope said the purpose of both efforts was to address the “urgent” need for comprehensive marriage education.
“Marriage is not just a ‘social’ event, but a true sacrament that involves proper preparation and conscious celebration,” the pope said. “The marital bond, in fact, requires a committed choice on the part of the engaged couple, which bears on the will to build something together that must never be betrayed or abandoned.
The work of preparation for marriage is, according to the pope, best carried out through the joint efforts of priests and married couples, although he stressed the importance and pre-eminence of the role of the parish priest.
“Priests, especially parish priests, are the first interlocutors of young people who wish to found a new family and marry in the sacrament of marriage. The accompaniment of the ordained minister will help newlyweds understand that marriage between a man and a woman is a sign of the marital union between Christ and the Church, making them aware of the deep meaning of the step they are taking. are about to cross.
The pope’s comments were heard by some as a corrective to recent remarks by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. In July, Cardinal Farrell said that “priests are not the best people to train others in marriage” and that “they have no credibility.”
Pope Francis stressed that the work of preparing couples for marriage must include basic formation in faith, noting that in many cases marriages have failed not because of an inherent problem in the couple, but simply because that they did not have the depth of faith necessary to live the sacrament fully.
“So many times, the ultimate root of the problems that reveal themselves after the celebration of the sacrament of marriage is found not only in a hidden and distant immaturity suddenly erupted, but above all in the weakness of the Christian faith,” Francis said. the participants.
“The deeper and longer the journey of preparation, the sooner couples will learn to correspond to the grace and strength of God and will also develop the ‘antibodies’ to face the inevitable moments of difficulty and fatigue. couples and family. the life.”
The pope noted that those preparing couples for marriage could make no assumptions about the level of faith formation couples might have. Many, he says, “have stuck to a basic notion of the Catechism of First Communion and, hopefully, Confirmation.” Therefore “it is essential to resume the catechesis of Christian initiation to the faith, the content of which should not be taken for granted or as if it had already been acquired by the engaged couple”.
Addressing these common gaps in couples’ understanding of the faith would help them, Francis explained, both understand the faith and instill “a filial sense of the Church.”
Above all, the pope stressed, priests and lay formators should welcome the opportunity to form couples over a period of years, not weeks, calling it an essential expression of the Church’s motherly concern.
“It is an experience of joyful motherhood, when the newlyweds are the object of the attentive care of the Church which, following her Master, is a caring mother who does not give up, does not reject, but s approach with tenderness, embrace and encourage.
The Pope also spoke of the difficulties faced by couples whose union has broken down, noting that the first priority should be to rekindle their faith and help them “rediscover the grace of the sacrament”, although in some cases, the Church needs to offer equal support through the process of nullity which has also been pointed to the salus animarum.
Francis ended by noting that he was pleased to see that his reforms to the nullity process had been widely adopted in practice. These, he said, were intended to help the bishops and judicial vicars of the dioceses whose job in the courts is to seek the truth and “to comfort the peace of consciences, especially the poorest and most distant. of our ecclesial communities”.
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