Pope Leo XIV opens status check on Pope Francis’ contentious opening to civilly remarried Catholics

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday urged Catholic leaders to courageously accompany families in their weaknesses and failures, as he embraced one of Pope Francis’ most contentious teachings about welcoming Catholics in second marriages and otherwise “irregular” unions.

Leo opened a weeklong, closed-door conference assessing the implementation of Francis’ 2016 document “The Joy of Love.” Leo called the text an “important” step in the church’s long tradition of ministering to Catholic families for the sake of passing the faith on to future generations.

The document covers a host of issues relating to how the Catholic Church can better minister to families today as they cope with issues such as poverty, war, LGBTQ+ children and divorce. But when it was released after a yearslong consultation, “The Joy of Love” immediately sparked controversy, because it opened the door to allowing civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

Church teaching holds that unless these Catholics obtain an annulment — a church decree that their first marriage was invalid — they can’t receive the…