Leo XIV to open closed-door Vatican meeting on the family, 10 years after Amoris laetitia
Some 187 participants, including 111 presidents of bishops' conferences and 22 people invited personally by the pope, will meet in the Paul VI Hall from October 7 to 14. There will be no votes
Ten years after Amoris laetitia, the Vatican is bringing the world's bishops back together to talk about the family. Leo XIV will open the meeting from October 7 to 14 in the Paul VI Hall, behind closed doors. The Holy See describes it as an exercise in listening.
The presidents, and others
This time it is not an assembly with half the room handpicked. Those taking part are the presidents of the bishops' conferences: 111 presidents and four delegates, along with the heads of the Eastern Churches.
Among the 187 participants, 22 were invited personally by the pope. They include Cardinals Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, all from the United States, and Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality. Also on the list are Víctor Manuel Fernández, the go-to theologian of the previous pontificate and now prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Luis Antonio Tagle.
The only Spaniard among the personal invitees is Cardinal José Cobo, the archbishop of Madrid. Spain will therefore have two voices in the hall: the one it holds through the Spanish Bishops' Conference and the one that comes by direct papal invitation.
The method
The preparatory document is signed by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and the General Secretariat of the Synod. The methodology is directed by the Jesuit Giacomo Costa, who was special secretary of the 2023 synod assembly. The format repeats that of the synod: working groups with turns to speak, listening and silence.
Costa said at the presentation that the meeting will not seek consensus, and that a properly understood divergence can be a fruit of listening. There will be no voting. The synthesis will be drafted by a commission whose membership has not so far been explained.
Falling marriage figures
Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, gave two figures at the presentation. Church weddings in Poland have fallen 45 percent in five years. In Australia, religious marriages have gone from 88 percent in 1970 to 16 percent in 2024.
One of the five themes of the meeting is the vocation to marriage. Another is "support in complex situations," the ground covered by chapter eight of Amoris laetitia, which dealt with Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.
What Leo XIV has changed
Leo XIV has reduced the share of personally invited participants, who here number 22 out of 187, and has brought back consistories as a place of consultation. He has summoned the presidents of the bishops' conferences rather than convening a tailor-made assembly.
He has left in place the synod structures he inherited, and those structures are organizing this meeting.
The final report will not replace Amoris laetitia. It will go to the pope.
