Earlier this month, Pope Leo XIV hosted a meeting of bishops and Church leaders in honor of the ten year anniversary of Amoris laetitia. The meeting was an opportunity for Catholics from around the world to discuss the legacy of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation and declining marriage rates in the Church. On The Drew Mariani Show, Drew and Dr. Larry Chapp discussed the meeting and Pope Leo’s main purpose in calling it. 

Why Marriage Is Declining 

Chapp, an emeritus professor of theology at DeSales University, thinks declining marriage rates are due to the “Westernization of the world, which equates to secularization.” He cited a recent article detailing the falling rates of marriage and fertility in Catholic places like the Philippines, Poland, and parts of Africa. The decline is not simply due to a lack of faith, but a “lack of faith in the efficacy and importance of the sacraments,” he told Drew. 

In his opening address at the meeting the Holy Father acknowledged that marriage is not lived as the Church intends. “Young people continue to long for love, fidelity and belonging, yet many find it difficult to embrace how such a vision of love can take shape in their own lives or to believe that a lifelong commitment is the condition for reaching what they desire,” he said. Among some of the reasons Pope Leo cited were “economic insecurity, migration, violence, [and] loneliness.”

Moving Past Controversy

Chapp thinks the Holy Father wants to move past the controversial aspects of the Amoris laetitia (questions surrounding divorce, remarriage, and reception of the sacraments), and return to the “fundamentals” of the Church’s teaching on marriage. “If you clear up the fundamentals and reignite in people a sense of the importance of the faith, and the sacraments, then the downstream effect will be enormous,” Chapp explained.

Learning How to Love

In the Holy Father’s closing Homily (read by Cardinal Tagle), Pope Leo said love is first learned in the family. “Marriage preparation programs conscientiously developed for this purpose in parishes and pastoral areas are commendable. Yet such courses alone are insufficient, for they must be preceded and supported by an education in love that accompanies a person’s growth from childhood.” 

That includes, the Holy Father exhorted, learning how to pray at home. “Common prayer and the Sacraments play a vital role in family life because they open hearts to the action of God, enabling families to reach together places that they could never reach on their own.”