Pope Francis's apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia deals with the pressing issues of marriage and the family today. It was welcomed by many as liberating good news. At the same time, it has also been an object of contentious argument and criticism. Here in his latest book, Cardinal Walter Kasper clearly and determinedly avoids any polemics while pointing out that Amoris laetitia does not represent a new doctrine. Rather, he shows how it takes the challenge of the gospel seriously and presents a creative renewal of the tradition that fully complies with and carefully continues the views of the Second Vatican Council as well as the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He puts the individual statements of the letter, in context, clarifies the overall intention, and seeks friendly dialogue with those who disagree. "We should not let a narrow, inflexible discussion of a single sentence in a footnote, which one can correctly understand if of goodwill, spoil our joy at the many good statements of Amoris laetitia. Rather, we should gratefully seize the challenge that the apostolic exhortation contains and understand Amoris laetitia as a Kairos moment in order to let the era of mercy, which Pope Francis has introduced by advancing the work of his predecessors, become an era of new joy (laetitia) in the Church rather than an era of deplorable conflicts" (from chapter 5).

Book jacket.