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Pope Francis has updated the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.
One of the most obvious changes Francis has made is to the Institute’s name.
It is now called the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and the Family.
Francis says the Institute needs to adapt and expand its mission to better prepare priests and pastoral workers to help meet the challenges families face today.
The Institute, which is based in Rome and has branches around the world, offers social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, as well as biology and other sciences.
Its vision of marriage and family life reflects that of Francis’s 2016 exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love).
Amoris Laetitia asks for the church to accompany all Catholics, even those living in “imperfect” family situations such as divorce and cohabitation.
It reflects Francis’s vision of the church as more of a “field hospital” for wounded souls than a privileged home for the perfect.
Francis says contemporary anthropological and cultural changes require “a diversified and analytical approach which cannot be limited to pastoral and missionary practices of the past”.
Today we must be able to interpret our faith in a context where individuals are less supported than before as they deal with the complex realities of family life, he says.
To be faithful to Christ’s teachings, Francis says it is important to explore what he calls the “lights and shadows of family life” with realism, wisdom and love.
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