Among the presentations of Pope Francis' exhortation "Amoris laetitia" on love in the family, two cardinals, Donald Wuerl in the United States and Vincent G. Nichols in England, are worth mentioning. 

The first intervention is the presentation made by the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, Donald Wuerl, at the Catholic University of America (Catholic University of the United States Episcopal lecture ), of which he is Chancellor. Bishop Wuerl was one of the 10 members of the commission that drafted the Relatio finalis at the 2015 synod. He had previously served as general rapporteur at the 2012 synod on the new evangelization. 

His address has four steps. The first is a brief overview of the exhortation. The beauty of the divine project on the family contrasts with today's challenges, especially individualism and relativism as the throwaway culture.

This is why there is a great need to proclaim the vocation of marriage. The sacrament of marriage strengthens the human love that is at the heart of the project family. Hence the importance of dialogue between the spouses and between the other members of the family, the evaluation of each one as he/she is, openness and communication with others.

All this requires not only a catechesis and a deep training , starting with the training of the educators of the future spouses. This catechesis and training must begin as soon as possible. It is now a matter of rediscovering the beauty of this project and spreading it everywhere: in schools, in parishes and in families themselves, helping them to develop their virtues for the benefit of society. At the same time, it is necessary to know how to discern and accompany concrete situations, even conflictive ones, and to heal fragilities. This is very different from listening to those who would like to deform or change the Christian project or assimilate it to others.

In a second step, the cardinal emphasizes that this document represents important "consensus". Let this word be understood not in a socio-political but in an ecclesial sense, since it brings together the work of the synods of 2014 and 2015 on marriage and the family, which for many represents a certain "novelty". The media were on the lookout for these synods that wished to be what the Second Vatican Council had envisioned for synods: an instrument for the pastoral ministry of the Church. The Pope wanted the synodal process to be carried out in two phases: analysis of the challenges (2014) and presentation of the vocation and mission statement of marriage and the family today (2015). 

The document distinguishes the teaching or doctrine on marriage and its indissolubility, with respect to the pastoral judgment on the relationship of persons to the sacrament. These two issues are interconnected but should not be identified or confused. The first concerns revelation and the doctrinal and disciplinary articulation of the Church. The second addresses the evaluation of personal situations in that framework, without losing sight of the integrity of the total picture. 

In a third point, the cardinal underlines the continuity of the document with the teaching magisterium of previous Popes and with the Catholic theological tradition.

Particularly B is (as for the issue of the references) the connection of the text with the magisterium of St. John Paul II, with the Second Vatican Council, with the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the magisterium of Benedict XVI and Blessed Paul VI. 

From the Second Vatican Council until today, this continuity of reflection can be observed in the teaching of the magisterium on marriage and the family. At the same time, there has been confusion and errors in the interpretations and applications of these teachings. Benedict XVI refuted an interpretation along the lines of rupture or discontinuity between the teachings of the Church and has guided the correct interpretation along the path of reform or renewal (always necessary) in the continuity of the magisterial teachings. 

In this framework, Amoris laetitia delves into the difference between the "law of gradualness", which is something correct and necessary, and the erroneous "gradualness of the law".

Although the Cardinal does not dwell much on this aspect, it is perhaps worth recalling what was already explained in the exhortation Familiaris consortio of St. John Paul II.

There is a correct "law of gradualness", which refers to the need for a gradual pathway in conversion and holiness. Grace comes through the ways of prayer and penance and with the financial aid of the sacraments, especially the sacrament of forgiveness.

In this way, one walks step by step towards holiness, counting on divine mercy.

The post-synodal document does not support - although some may have mistakenly perceived it as such - the erroneous "gradualness of the law"; that is, as if it allowed the possibility of different Degrees or forms of the law for different persons and situations. On the contrary, Francis' text explicitly rejects this.

Fourth and last point, on this path of continuity, which Pope Francis also places himself, the Cardinal of Washington points out the importance of the pastoral implications, which some consider to be the core of the document. To understand them well, the Cardinal of Washington advises to read and study the text carefully without jumping to the end, as one sometimes does with a novel, losing the story and, with it, why it ends in this way, in this case by ignoring the "consensuses" and the continuity with the magisterium of the Church and the ecclesial tradition. 

On this point, the Cardinal maintains that this document should be understood as an important step in the renewal of moral theology, along the lines of what the Second Vatican Council desired for theological disciplines: their renewal through contact with the Mystery of Christ and with the history of salvation contained in the Bible. This has led moral theology to react against the primacy of categories such as law and duty. These categories are always important, but they must be preceded and accompanied by the revelation that is made complete in Christ and by the perfection of the person through love, as John Paul II insisted. Benedict XVI subsequently developed this perspective in his encyclicals on Charity and Hope and on Social Doctrine, until his work in the encyclical on Faith, work which Francis continued.

All this is gathered in this document as a light for the care of families. In this way, the importance of moral law and duty is not diminished, but placed in the perspective of love and mercy. This is masterfully and beautifully realized in Pope Francis' exhortation in its fourth chapter, which some consider to be the "beating heart" of the document and of the service and care to be given to families. 

According to the Cardinal of Washington, the approach of Amoris laetitia can be synthesized in a sensitivity that leads to four attitudes: listening to the faithful and their pastors (as was done in the synodal process); accompanying marriages and families (which requires an adequate training , beginning with the formators) in the different phases and circumstances of families (preparation, first years of marriage, possible crises, etc.); discerning (helping to form the conscience of persons without replacing it, teaching the doctrine of the Church in its integrity and without subjectivism, and appealing to the liberating truth and mercy of the Church's mercy).); to discern (helping to form the conscience of persons without replacing it, teaching the doctrine of the Church in its integrity and without subjectivism, and appealing to the liberating truth and saving mercy of God, all gradually); and to evangelize (to families, putting in the foreground that families are also protagonists of evangelization).

The sensitivity that sample the exhortation Amoris laetitia to the beauty of marital and family love is highlighted in the brief pastoral letter of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Gerald Nichols, president of the Episcopal lecture of England and Wales, a letter that was read in every parish in London on May 1. This sensitivity must be linked to closeness in order to heal people's wounds.