In a broad proclamation on family life, Pope Francis on Friday called for the Roman Catholic Church to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.

The 256-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation and titled “Amoris Laetitia,” Latin for “The Joy of Love,” offers no new rules or marching orders, and from the outset Francis makes plain that no top-down edicts are coming. Alluding to the diversity and complexity of a global church, Francis effectively pushes decision making downward to bishops and priests, stating that a different country or region “can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs.”

Source:  The New York Times