Matthew’s community struggled to understand why so few believed in Jesus. How was it possible, they wondered, that friends and loved ones heard the same message but did not grasp its implications?
The laypeople were the experts—the ones who live the challenges of family life every day—at the San Diego synod responding to Pope Francis' “Amoris Laetitia."
While Europe has played a significantly weighty role in the development of Christianity, "now we see how the church is growing in numbers in Latin America, in Africa and in Asia. The pope is making this clear. This universal character of the church is very beautiful."
People must ask themselves whether they are "'armchair Catholics,' who love to chat about how things are going in the church and the world," Pope Francis said, or if they are "apostles on the go," who are on fire with love for God and ready to offer their lives for him.