Aggiornamento in the Exhortation Amoris Laetitia 60 years after the Second Vatican Council

Abstract

Sixty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council, the intuitions of the Council continue to inspire magisterial documents that seek to articulate fidelity to Tradition and attentive listening to the signs of the times. In this context, Amoris Laetitia emerges as the mature fruit of an ecclesial process that, initiated with the Council, proposes a Church closer to the concrete reality of families, willing to welcome, discern and accompany each situation with sincerity and mercy. This research, following a theoretical-bibliographical methodology, aims to contribute to the reception of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which represents one of the most significant expressions of the spirit of the Council in the life of the contemporary Church, particularly with regard to its impulse for pastoral and doctrinal renewal summarized in the term aggiornamento. In addressing with depth and sensitivity the joys and challenges of contemporary families, Pope Francis adopts an approach that combines evangelical realism and pastoral creativity, in continuity with the ecclesiology of communion promoted by the Council. Amoris Laetitia revisits and deepens conciliar themes such as the dignity of conscience, the centrality of the person, the role of the laity and the appreciation of the family as a domestic Church, proposing a more integrated pastoral approach that rejects rigid responses and hasty generalizations. Fidelity to the Council is manifested in the effort for truth and charity, norms and discernment, in a pastoral logic that prioritizes care and accompaniment. Pope Francis’ document represents a creative reception of the Council and an impetus for its ongoing updating, reaffirming that the conciliar reform remains relevant and necessary in the synodal journey of the Church in the 21st century.