Abstract

Amoris laetitia apostolic exhortation, dealing with love in the family, by Pope Francis (2016), which is the fruit of reflection of the two Congregations of the Synod of Bishops (2014 and 2015 significantly), fits the mainstream teaching of the last decades in the subject of marriage and family.
On June 8, 2018, during the 379th Plenary Meeting held in Janów Podlaski, the Polish Episcopal Conference adopted the document „Pastoral guidelines to Amoris laetitia apostolic exhortation”, published two days later. It is a fruit of a kind of compromise and long discussions held at the same Conference.
After showing the genesis and nearly two-year history of the „Guidelines”, the author characterizes it, stressing that it is a pastoral document, and then discusses its content contained in four chapters (Essential elements of teaching of Pope Francis; „The Joy of love” in marriage and family; New pastoral impulses; A call to pastoral discernment and logic of integration in the light of Chapter VIII of Amoris laetitia; Summary).
In the author’s opinion, „Pastoral Guidelines” of the Polish Episcopal Conference, although not free of certain editorial deficiencies, constitute a useful pastoral tool in the service for the benefit of marriage and family. He also expresses an opinion that many of the issues raised in this document will find its continuation in the announced “Directory of the Pastoral Care of Families for the Church in Poland”.