VATICAN CITY, Oct 8 — Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called on the Roman Catholic Church to revise the way it helps families and handles failed marriages as he opened a major weeklong religious assembly.
With the church debating how it recognises separations, Leo did not directly mention divorce but called on Catholic leaders to reflect on the “experience of fragility” and the handling of “situations marked by limitations, wounds, and apparent failures.”
Leo’s predecessor, Francis, who died in 2025, made a tentative step in 2016 for Catholics who have divorced and remarried in civil ceremonies to receive Communion. It sparked a Church-wide debate and pushback from conservative Catholics. Leo’s address was made to a week-long closed assembly of bishops from 120 countries, who will be joined by leaders from Eastern churches, experts, theologians and 11 lay couples to mark the 10th anniversary of the late Pope Francis’ “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love) document.
