Two books on the family and life have recently been published by the Pontifical Council for the Family in collaboration with the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. The first book, "The Teachings of Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Pope Francis on the Family and Life," presents in chronological order everything written or said by the Holy Father on these two issues in the period from 1999—when he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires—to June 2014. The second volume: '' Enchiridion of the family and of life" is a monumental collection of the magisterial texts on society’s fundamental cell issued in the last five centuries.
The latter work, in particular, updates and considerably expands the previous edition published in 2012. This new volume focuses exclusively on the Magisterium of the Councils (from the Council of Florence in 1439 up to today) and of the Popes (from Pius VI to Francis), whereas the volume that appeared two years ago proposed to the reader a much more limited time period (2004-2011), focusing on one hand on the papal documents and teachings of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and on the other on the documents and teachings of the Roman Curia.
Both publishing initiatives that we are presenting today are mainly the result of the work of the Dicastery’s Bureau Chief, Father Gianfranco Grieco, who in recent months dedicated himself with great passion to the task of evaluating and choosing hundreds of texts that highlight the deep vein which for centuries has nourished the Church's particular approach to issues concerning the family and life.
"The Teachings of Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Pope Francis on the Family and Life" (25 €), 558 pages, is intended especially to respond to the exceptional depletion, in the space of one year, of the stock of 200,000 copies of Familia et Vita’s special issue dedicated to the Holy Father. The "Enchiridion of the Family and of Life" (69 €), on the other hand, although it is a thick volume of 3,543 pages, is a project for everyone and not only to scholars, that stems from the desire to raise awareness of about the rapport which has been developed in the modern Church with respect to the family, including by the participants of the two Synods, the Extraordinary Synod that just ended and the Ordinary Synod scheduled for next year.
