As bishops gathered in Rome Oct. 7 to revisit Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia ten years after its publication, a Catholic publisher once at the center of a Vatican controversy has returned with a new book on love and marriage.
In 2014, Ignatius Press published Remaining in the Truth of Christ, a defense of traditional Catholic teaching that many commentators interpreted as opposing Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposals concerning divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. It was a book that became symbolic of the debates surrounding the Synod on the Family.
Now, representatives of Ignatius Press have presented Pope Leo XIV with YOUCAT Love Forever, a guide to love and marriage for young Catholics.
In this week’s episode, Jesuit Father Joseph Fessio, founder of Ignatius Press, and its president, Mark Brumley, revisit the controversy and reflect on what has changed in the Church over the past decade.
Father Fessio offers a candid assessment of Pope Francis, whose approach he sometimes found confusing but whose orthodoxy he ultimately defends. Brumley, meanwhile, rejects the idea that the new book represents a reversal for Ignatius Press, emphasizing continuity between successive popes.
In this episode:
The controversy surrounding Remaining in the Truth of Christ during the 2014 Synod on the Family
Why Ignatius Press published a book perceived as challenging Cardinal Kasper’s proposals
Whether Pope Leo XIV represents a change in direction for the Church
How YOUCAT Love Forever builds on Amoris Laetitia to explain Catholic teaching to a new generation
Ignatius Press associate editor Thomas Jacobi also explains how the new book originated under Pope Francis and why Pope Leo agreed to write a foreword.