A friendly phone marked the beginning of the collaboration of the newborn Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life with the Academy for Life and the John Paul II Institute. In the afternoon of Tuesday, August 17th, after the publication of appointments by Pope Francis, Archbishop Paglia called Bishop Farrell on the phone to wish him the very best.

After having offered his warm welcome to the new Prefect in Rome, the new Chancellor of the John Paul II Institute gave the American Bishop a first presentation of the work accomplished by the Pontifical Council for the Family in these recent years. Bishop Farrell, for his part, recalled the days of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, where he got to know Archbishop Paglia and the Pontifical Council.

While waiting to meet in Rome for the usual exchange of information and to launch the cooperation of the different Vatican organizations that deal with family life, in accordance with Pope Francis’ indications in the Chirograph, the two newly appointed leaders have now agreed on the need to place their future work in the perspective proposed by Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.