Contact: Kerry Beck, Catholic Answers, 619-387-7200, kbeck@catholic.com 

SAN DIEGO, April 8, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic Answers expert Jimmy Akin says Pope Francis's new document on the family, released today in Rome, calls for greater pastoral care of married couples but does not change Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality and Catholics who are divorced and remarried civilly.

The new apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (Latin, "the joy of love") focuses on pastoral care rather than doctrine. The pope issued it in response to two meetings of bishops worldwide, called synods, in 2014 and 2015, both of which were devoted to the topic of the family.

"Pope Francis's new document displays great concern about how to help families survive and grow closer to God amid all the challenges they face today," Akin said. "But it does not contain the radical changes in Church teaching and practice that some hoped it would."

Although Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics is only one of many topics the apostolic exhortation addresses, it's the one that has drawn the most concern from Catholics.

Going into the synods, German cardinal Walter Kasper proposed to allow such individuals to receive Communion after a "penitential period," which would require a change in Church doctrine. Although many observers thought the pope might address the Kasper proposal in this document, he does not.

Instead, Francis emphasizes that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to such situations and quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church saying such individuals' moral culpability "can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors."

"The document calls for careful discernment of particular couples' situations in a way that does not water down or deny the historic teachings of Christ and the Church on marriage," Akin said.

Contrary to the hopes of some, the document also did not attempt to reframe the Church's teaching on same-sex activity or same-sex unions. Such unions, says Pope Francis, "may not simply be equated with marriage." He also says it is unacceptable "that local Churches should be subjected to pressure in this matter and that international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish 'marriage' between persons of the same sex."

To arrange an interview with papal expert Jimmy Akin, call Kerry Beck at Catholic Answers at 619-387-7200, or e-mail him at kbeck@catholic.com.

The mission of Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run Catholic apologetics organization in the U.S., is to explain and defend the authentic Catholic Faith.