The Church must be attentive to signs of the Holy Spirit in the midst of human failings, Pope Francis has said in his highly anticipated apostolic exhortation. The document, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), released last Friday, contains no new rules or norms. But it emphasises the need to go beyond simple judgments. “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion,” the Pope writes. “But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness.” The Pope writes: “The divorced who have entered a new union, for example, can find themselves in a variety of situations, which should not be pigeonholed or fit into overly rigid classifications leaving no room for a suitable personal and pastoral discernment.” The exhortation was Pope Francis’s reflection on the dis-cussion, debate and suggestions raised during the 2014 and 2015 meetings of the Synod of Bishops on the family. Like the synod members, the Pope insists that God’s plan for the family is that it be built on the lifelong union of one man and one woman open to having children. Pope Francis’s document touches on all the issues raised at the synods. He strongly affirms Church teaching on abortion and contraception. He also gives practical advice on family life, urges a revision of sex education programmes, and laments “a cultural decline that fails to promote love or self-giving”, in which “everything is disposable; everyone uses and throws away.” But the Pope said there was “no sense in simply decrying present-day evils”. He called instead for “a more responsible and generous effort to present the reasons and motivations for choosing marriage and the family.”