Apostolic Exhortation Archives

Pope’s Amazon document due Wednesday amid married priest row

Feb 7, 2020

Pope Francis will release his eagerly-awaited document on the Amazon next Wednesday, with attention focused on whether he will approve calls by the region’s bishops to ordain married men to address a priest shortage there.

By Nicole Winfield

Pope calls abuse crisis a ‘scourge’ in youth doc, omits ‘zero tolerance’

Apr 2, 2019

In his new exhortation on young people, Pope Francis did not shy away from delving into the abuse crisis as a major challenge to the Catholic Church’s credibility among youth, but a notable omission was any reference to adopting a ‘zero tolerance’ policy to clerical sexual abuse.

By Elise Harris

Pope to sign letter to young people at popular Marian sanctuary

Mar 21, 2019

The place Pope Francis chose to sign his letter to young people is an important and popular sanctuary housing the Holy House of Loreto.

By Carol Glatz

Pope to issue post-synod document on young people in March

Feb 24, 2019

Pope Francis will issue a document on “young people, faith and vocational discernment” five months after the world Synod of Bishops gathered to discuss the topic.

By Cindy Wooden

In ‘Gaudete et Exsultate,’ Pope answers ‘Amoris’ critics: Don’t ‘reduce, constrict’ Gospel

Apr 9, 2018

In a new document on holiness, Pope Francis makes clear he both believes in the Devil, the “Prince of Hell,” and that he regards critics of his merciful line in “Amoris Laetitia” and elsewhere of seeing the Church as “the possession of a select few.”

By Inés San Martín

A new ‘apostolic exhortation’ is coming. What is that, anyway?

Apr 6, 2018

The apostolic exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate” (“Rejoice and be glad”), subtitled “On the call to holiness in the contemporary world” will be unveiled April 9 at noon Rome time in a Vatican news conference.

By Inés San Martín

Pope Francis lets the world in on the Church's best-kept secret

Apr 8, 2016

One of the standard talks I’ve given on the Catholic lecture circuit for years now focuses on the cultural gap between the Vatican and Main Street USA. Only semi-jokingly, I sometimes title it “Rome is from Mars, America from Venus,” because it does often seem they’re on two different planets.

By John L. Allen Jr.

Pope’s big call on Communion may mean little on the ground

Apr 2, 2016

ROME – Formally speaking, Vatican documents are categorized according to their ecclesiastical genre. An “encyclical”, for instance, is a developed form of papal teaching, an “instruction” generally explains or amplifies another document that has legislative force, a “motu proprio” is a legal decree under the pope’s authority, and so on.

By John L. Allen Jr.