Four of 22 people personally invited by Pope Leo XIV to attend a major week-long Vatican meeting on Amoris laetitia come from the United States.
The four who will join U.S. Bishops’ Conference President Archbishop Paul Coakley at the Oct. 7-14 event titled “Ten Years Later Amoris laetitia: Proclaiming the Gospel with Families Today” are Cardinal Blase Cupich, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Bishop Daniel Flores.
The United States is the only country to have four participants personally selected by the Pope. Canada, China, Italy and Vatican City each have two, while 10 other countries have a single personally chosen participant, including Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines, which are the first, second and third countries in terms of Catholic population, respectively.
All 115 bishops’ conferences from around the world will be represented at the event, in most cases, except in rare cases, by the president of the respective bishops’ conference. Bishop Erik Varden, for example, will represent the Nordic Bishops’ Conference, and Archbishop Richard Moth, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
All 15 sui iuris The Eastern (Autonomous) Catholic Churches will also be represented, with the heads of 14 of the Churches present, alongside a delegate from the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia. Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk will represent the war-ravaged Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Patriarch Ignatius Youssif III Younan is also expected to attend upheaval in the Syriac Catholic Church.
They will also be joined by 11 couples or families, as well as 26 “experts” and 16 “facilitators”.
What is the context of the meeting? And what will happen?
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In April 2016, Pope Francis published Amoris laetitia (The Joy of Love), an apostolic exhortation “on love in the family”. It instantly became one of the most controversial texts of his pontificate thanks to footnote 351, which addresses the reception of the sacraments by divorced and remarried Catholics.
The document covered a huge area beyond this sensitive subject, from the preparation of engaged couples for marriage to the education of children to the spirituality of marriage. Indeed, at over 50,000 words, it was one of the longest papal texts in history.
In March 2026, Pope Leo XIV issued a message marking the 10th anniversary of the exhortation. He announced that he had decided to bring together the presidents of the world episcopal conferences in October 2026, “with the aim of carrying out, through mutual listening, a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken to announce the Gospel to families today, in the light of Amoris laetitia and taking into account what is currently being done in the local Churches.
In July 2026, the Vatican published THE preparatory document for the meeting, which identified five themes for discussion at the meeting:
1) Families today: reality, beauty and challenges.
2) Young people and the discovery of the vocation to marriage.
3) Married life. The first years of marriage: a decisive period.
4) In life’s difficulties: accompany and support.
5) Christian families as subjects of the mission of the Church.
At a Vatican on October 2 press conference introducing the meeting, Fr. Giacomo Costa, SJ, consultant to the General Secretariat of the Synod, highlighted its objective and methodology.
Costa described the meeting as “a sort of evaluation assembly”, similar to those taking place around the world in anticipation of the 2028 church assembly in Rome.
He said: “A synodal process, in fact, does not end with the approval of a document. A document is not the final point: it must enter the life of the Church and allow itself to be tested by experience. The Churches are called to translate its orientations in their different contexts, to experiment with different paths, to evaluate the fruits and the difficulties, then to come together again to reflect on what has been experienced.”
“In this perspective, evaluating does not mean passing judgment on the text, neither to praise it nor to criticize it, but to learn from the experience acquired after its publication, to recognize where the Spirit is leading the Church and what new steps the Spirit is asking her to take. »
Costa added: “Ten years later, the question is not whether Amoris laetitia said, but what we learned by trying to live it. The objective indicated by Pope Leo XIV is to move forward, through mutual listening, towards a synodal discernment of the steps to be taken today to announce the Gospel to families. »
Costa stressed that the meeting will not be a synod, although it will use the synodal methodology known as “Conversation in the Spirit” in which an assembly forms small groups in which each participant shares their own experience, reflects on what they hear from others, and then seeks to discern with others what has emerged.
The meeting will begin on Wednesday, October 7 with greetings from Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the synod. They are the heads of the two Vatican offices responsible for the organization the event.
After the introductory speech by Pope Leo XIV, there will be a meditation by Sister Helen Alford, president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Participants will be divided into small groups.
The meeting will take place in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican, where the 2023-2024 synod on synodality was held. It is not yet clear whether the famous synod round tables And iPad will be taken out of storage for Love meeting.
Over the next six days (including a day off on Sunday October 11), participants will work through the five themes. Each group will propose a brief report to the assembly, followed by time for other interventions in plenary session.
The discussions during the five thematic days will be summarized in a summary report. A commission including representatives of the assembly will verify that the report faithfully reflects what emerged from it.
On the last day, Wednesday October 14, Pope Leo XIV will celebrate mass in Saint Peter’s Square. The assembly will then discuss the summary report before entrusting it to the pope, who will deliver a concluding speech. The summary will be made public in the form of a working document rather than a text intended to replace Amoris laetitia.
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