Amoris Laetitia

Distinctly Catholic: 2020 began with the U.S. bishops' ad limina visits offering the chance for frank conversations with Pope Francis, but by year's end, opposition to him in the U.S. church was as strong as ever.

As the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" approaches, Pope Francis announced the Church will dedicate more than a year to focusing on marriage and family.

Bishop Mitch Rozanski spoke to NCR the day after his appointment to St. Louis, sharing the perspective he brings to this latest assignment and how the church can follow Pope Francis in making the Gospel message clear.

Grace on the Margins: Pope Francis may want to condemn violence against women, but my own experience of domestic violence showed me that sometimes church teaching only makes things worse.

"Our communion with the Holy Father can be expressed in the concrete actions that we take to make his magisterium better known among our people," Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the U.S., said in his Nov. 11 address to the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Pope's quotes: "Marriage is the image of God, man and woman become one flesh. If this is destroyed, the image of God is soiled or disfigured."

Commentary: The importance of this issue -- one the church really can't afford to punt on any longer -- tracks with the increased importance Pope Francis has placed on synods.

A group of Catholic scholars and priests has written an open letter to the College of Bishops accusing Pope Francis of heresy.