The Vatican has published the Preparatory Document for a major meeting on Amoris Laetitia to be held in Rome from October 7–14, 2026. The meeting, convened by Pope Leo XIV, marks ten years since the late Pope Francis issued the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the family.The document, titled the Thematic Framework, was issued jointly by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life and the General Secretariat of the Synod.
It has been sent to the Heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris and to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences, and was made public today.The Thematic Framework is intended to guide preparations for the October gathering, which will bring together the Heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences. Pope Leo XIV first announced the meeting in his message of March 19, 2026, marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia.
Citing the profound changes affecting families today, he said he wished “to proceed, in mutual listening, to a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken in order to proclaim the Gospel to families today, in light of Amoris laetitia and taking into account what is currently being done in the local Churches.”At the conclusion of the extraordinary Consistory on June 27, the Pope returned to the theme of the family: “Where the family is supported and accompanied, there grows a school of relationships, solidarity and hope; where it is wounded or isolated, the whole of society bears the consequences.”
On that occasion, he also announced that several families would take part in the meeting to share their lived experience.In Rome, bishops from around the world will be invited to engage with the themes proposed in the document and to listen attentively to one another. The aim is that, upon returning to their local Churches, they may renew, together with families, a shared pastoral commitment in support of the family, human life, and the vocation to marriage.
The meeting is designed as a space for encounter, listening, and discernment: welcoming the lived experience of families, sharing concrete stories, reflecting on pastoral initiatives that accompany families, and engaging in dialogue with experts.Episcopal Conferences and Eastern Catholic Churches are being asked to begin reflecting on the proposed themes in the months ahead, with particular emphasis on listening to families in their local Churches.
The Vatican stressed that this is an “eminently pastoral journey” that places families at its center — not merely as recipients of the Church’s pastoral care, but as active subjects of her mission. Through families, the Gospel takes flesh in everyday relationships, choices, struggles, and hope.Although the meeting is not an Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, it will be conducted in a synodal style. As Pope Leo XIV indicated at the conclusion of the Consistory, it shares the spirit of the Synod’s implementation process, marked by listening, prayer, and discernment.