Knowing the debate surrounding Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation on the family, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said the document "first and foremost recalls the mercy and compassion of God and not just moral norms and canonical rules."
"In the past few months, numerous comments and evaluations of this important document have been made," the patriarch wrote on December 2 in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
"People have asked how specific doctrine has been developed or defended or if pastoral questions have been modified or resolved and if particular norms have been strengthened or mitigated," he said.
