Vatican City: The Dicastery for Laity Family and Life has announced a special study day to reflect on the deep connection between marriage faith and the Church’s teaching mission. The event will be held on April 28 at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican.
Around 75 invited participants are expected to attend. They include representatives from different Vatican offices as well as rectors lecturers and formators from seminaries and training programmes. All of them share the responsibility of preparing future priests and supporting the Church’s mission of teaching the faith.
The meeting will focus on how the sacrament of marriage is linked to faith and what is known as the Church’s teaching role or munus docendi. Organisers say this topic has become especially important today as families and young people face many cultural and social changes.
The programme will begin at 8.30 in the morning with an introduction by Cardinal Kevin Farrell who leads the Dicastery. This will be followed by talks from Father Andrea Bozzolo Rector of the Pontifical Salesian University and Father Fabio Rosini a biblical scholar and professor of pastoral theology. The event will conclude early in the afternoon with time set aside for discussion and exchange of ideas.
A key focus of the study day is the formation of priests. The organisers stress that understanding marriage is not only part of family ministry but also essential in preparing future priests to guide and support couples in their vocation. There is a growing feeling in the Church that priestly formation should be more practical and connected to the real life experiences of families and young people.
The event is also part of the celebrations marking ten years since Amoris Laetitia the important Church document on family life issued in 2016.
In a recent message marking this anniversary Pope Leo XIV highlighted that married couples form a domestic Church and play a key role in passing on the faith. He encouraged the Church to strengthen its support for those called to marriage and to help young people rediscover the beauty of this vocation.
The Dicastery says the study day reflects a growing understanding within the Church that marriage is not a secondary issue. Instead it is central to the life of the Christian community and to the success of evangelisation. The way families live and grow in faith has a strong influence on how the next generation comes to know and follow Christ.