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Amoris laetitia is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of

families. Dated 19 March 2016, it was released on 8 April 2016. It follows the Synods on the Family held
in 2014 and 2015. The exhortation covers a wide range of topics related to marriage and family life as
well as the contemporary challenges faced by families throughout the world. It encourages both pastors
and members of the laity to accompany and care for families and others in situations of particular need.
Amoris laetitia also includes an extended reflection on the meaning of love in the day-to-day reality of
family life.

Controversy arose following the publication of Amoris laetitia regarding whether Chapter 8 of the
exhortation had changed the Catholic Church's sacramental discipline concerning access to the
sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist for divorced couples who have civilly remarried.

Caritas in veritate is the third and last encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, and his first social encyclical. It
was signed on 29 June 2009 and was published on 7 July 2009. The encyclical is concerned with the
problems of global development and progress towards the common good, arguing that both Love and
Truth are essential elements of an effective response. The work is addressed to all strata of global
society – there are specific points aimed at political leaders, business leaders, religious leaders,
financiers, and aid agencies but the work as a whole is also addressed to all people of good will.

Caritas in veritate contains detailed reflection on economic and social issues. The Pope points out that
the church does not offer specific technical solutions, but rather moral principles to inform the building
of such solutions. The economic themes include an attack on free market fundamentalism, though a
simplistic polarization of the free market model versus interventionist big government solutions is
rejected. There is emphasis on the need for the actions of all economic actors to be informed by ethics
as well as the profit motive. Other areas discussed include hunger, the environment, migration, sexual
tourism, bioethics, cultural relativism, social solidarity, energy, and population issues.

Pastores dabo vobis is an apostolic exhortation released on March 25, 1992, by Pope John Paul II. It
concerns the formation of priests and is addressed to both clergy and the lay faithful of the Catholic
Church.

Redemptor hominis This first encyclical of Pope John Paul II examines major problems confronting the
world at the time. John Paul II began his papacy during a crisis of self-doubt and internal criticism in
the Catholic Church. He alludes to this in the encyclical's introduction, stating his confidence that the
new movement of life in the Church "is much stronger than the symptoms of doubt, collapse, and
crisis." He says that Jesus is real and living.
Redemptor hominis proposes that the solution to these problems may be found through a fuller
understanding of the person: both of the human person, and that of Christ. As such, his first encyclical
repeatedly stresses the pope's favored philosophical approach of personalism, an approach that he used
repeatedly throughout the rest of his papacy.
The encyclical also works to prepare the Church for the upcoming third millennium, calling the
remaining years of the 20th century "a season of a new Advent, a season of expectation" in preparation
for the new millennium.
Rerum novarum (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of the new things"[n
1]), or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor, is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It
was an open letter, passed to all Catholic Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and bishops,that addressed
the condition of the working classes.

It discussed the relationships and mutual duties between labor and capital, as well as government and
its citizens. Of primary concern was the need for some amelioration of "The misery and wretchedness
pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class." It supported the rights of labor to form
unions, rejected socialism and unrestricted capitalism, whilst affirming the right to private property.

Rerum Novarum is considered a foundational text of modern Catholic social teaching. Many of the
positions in Rerum novarum were supplemented by later encyclicals, in particular Pius XI's
Quadragesimo anno (1931), John XXIII's Mater et magistra (1961), and John Paul II's Centesimus annus
(1991).

Pastor aeternus is the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council,
July 18, 1870. The document defines four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred
on Peter, the perpetuity of the Petrine Primacy in the Roman pontiffs, the meaning and power of the
papal primacy, and Papal infallibility – infallible teaching authority (magisterium) of the Pope.

Evangelii gaudium (English: The Joy of the Gospel) is a 2013 apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis on
"the church's primary mission of evangelization in the modern world." It has been described as a
"remarkable and radical document, one that ranges widely and challenges complacency at every level,"
as well as "the manifesto of Francis" and a "Magna Carta for church reform."

In contrast to the writing style of previous popes, Evangelii gaudium is not written in an academic style
but "in language that is both easily understood and captivating."[1] In the 47,560 word document,
Francis uses the word "love" 154 times, "joy" 109 times, "the poor" 91 times, "peace" 58 times, "justice"
37 times, and "common good" 15 times.

Mysterium Fidei is an encyclical letter of Pope Paul VI on the Eucharist, published in September 1965. It
was issued just as the closing session of the Second Vatican Council was beginning. Written in a stern
and troubled tone, its purpose was to counter certain theological movements which he perceived were
gaining ground in the Roman Catholic Church. Using terminology such as "pastoral concern" and
"anxiety", the letter sends a direct and unequivocal message to the Church regarding the Eucharist. The
Pope clearly feared that these novel teachings were threatening the Eucharistic piety which had marked
the Catholic Church since the earliest centuries. To emphasize the centrality of the Eucharist in the
Church, the Pope echoed the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch, referring to the Blessed Sacrament the
"medicine of immortality". The Pope acknowledged that there were many "real" presences of Christ, but
that in the Communion bread this presence is real and "substantial".

The letter, however, received little attention as the world's interest was focused at the time was on the
final works of the council fathers, particularly Lumen gentium, issued in November of the same year at
the conclusion of the Council.

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