Documents of the Church

In his latest address to consecrated people, Pope Francis expresses his appreciation for "contemplative sisters", emphasising that the church needs them "to bring today's men and women to the good news of the Gospel"..

The Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy has come to and end, but mercy must continue to be lived out and celebrated in our communities. In this Apostolic letter, issued at the Jubilee's conclusion, Pope Francis proposes various initiatives and points of reference to ensure that we continue to build our lives on mercy. Mercy can never be a mere parenthesis in the life of the Church; it constitutes her very existence, through which the profound truths of the Gospel are made manifest and tangible. Everything is revealed in mercy; everything is resolved in the merciful love of the Father.   Pope Francis, Misericordia et Misera...

This new Directory for Catechesis represents the work of over 80 experts over 5 years, reflecting a dynamic renewal in catechesis since its predecessor, and incorporating the magisterial wisdom of the most recent episcopal Synods and Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. The Directory places catechetical instruction and formation of catechetical teachers clearly within the realm of evangelisation. It offers guidelines to assist in the creation of local directories and catechisms and clarifies the importance of catechetical renewal in Christian communities. The Directory will be indispensable for bishops and all those responsible for formal religious instruction, including priests, deacons, lay and religious catechists, and religious education teachers in dioceses, parishes, and schools. The Directory will also aid directors of formation who train the faithful in the forms and means of catechesis, including seminary rectors, directors of formation for the permanent ..

This new instruction from the Congregation for the Clergy tackles many of the issues surrounding the renewal or “conversion” of parish and diocesan structures into more missionary entities, including ways of assigning pastoral ministry within the parish, the role of the pastoral council, the provision of the sacraments, and the suppression or merging of parishes...

Published to mark the 150th anniversary of the Proclamation of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, Pope Francis offers a rich and personal reflection on the fatherhood of St Joseph. In his pastoral and readable style, he writes about St Joseph as. * A beloved father * A tender and loving father * An obedient father * A creatively courageous father * A working father * A father in the shadows Announcing a year dedicated to St Joseph, the Holy Father presents St Joseph as an example of the type of father so sorely needed in the world and in the church today. In St Joseph we find a sure intercessor in the most difficult moments and impossible situations...

Apostolic Letter on the Liturgical Formation of the People of God Pope Francis urges Catholics to value the liturgical reform borne out of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. He calls for a "serious and dynamic liturgical formation" for all. Without a proper understanding, the celebration can easily fall “into a preoccupation with the exterior (more or less refined) or into a concern only for rubrics (more or less rigid)." Pope Francis adds: “With this letter I simply want to invite the whole Church to rediscover, to safeguard, and to live the truth and power of the Christian celebration. I want the beauty of the Christian celebration and its necessary consequences for the life of the Church not to be spoiled by a superficial and foreshortened understanding of its value or, worse yet, by its being exploited in service of some ideological vision, no matter what the hue.”..