It has come to our attention that the Holy Father’s extremely controversial exhortation Amoris laetitia, about which we have written at extraordinary length, is now available in Latin. Whether or not it would appear in Latin has been something of an open question. On the one hand, papal documents tend not to be seen as final and official until they are published in Latin in the AAS. On the other hand, Evangelii gaudium, which has become something of the Holy Father’s manifesto, has never been published in Latin. Now we have Amoris laetitia in the AAS in Latin. (There’s even a nicely typeset PDF.) A selection, from the most controversial portion of the exhortation:

Itaque, Pastor sibi placere non potest, leges morales solummodo imponens iis, qui in “irregularibus” condicionibus versantur, quasi si petrae sint quae in vitam personarum iaciantur. Quod attinet ad obserata corda, quae saepe etiam sub ipsis ecclesiasticis praeceptis latent, «ut super cathedram Moysis sedeant et iudicent, iactanter interdum ac leviter, difficiles casus et familias animo vulneratas». Eandem sententiam protulit Commissio Theologica Internationalis: «Lex naturalis ergo proponi nequit tamquam constituta regularum series, quae a priori subiecto morali imponuntur, sed fons est inspirationis obiectivae in eius iter, praecipue personale, ad consilium ineundum». Propter impedimenta vel elementa extenuantia fieri potest, ut in obiectiva peccati condicione – si quis subiective culpa careat vel eiusdem plane non sit noxius – quidam vivere possit in gratia Dei, amare possit et crescere possit quoque in vita gratiae et caritatis, huic proposito opem ferente Ecclesia. Discretio quidem iuvare debet ad semitas possibiles reperiendas, unde Deo respondeatur ac per limites proficeatur. Si omnia alba atrave esse credimus, aditum gratiae et incrementi quandoque intercludimus itineraque sanctificationis infringimus, quae vero gloriam Deo reddunt. Commonefacimus «parvum gressum magna inter humanae vitae limites gratiorem Deo esse posse quam vitam extrinsecus incorruptam eorum, qui dies degunt haud maioribus difficultatibus occurrentes». Certa pastoralis cura ministorum et communitatum facere non potest quin hanc rem ipsi sibi sumat.

(Emphasis supplied and footnotes omitted.) Candidly, we’ve noticed a couple apparent typos and, frankly, the Latin is not hugely elegant. Indeed, other than some issues implied by word choice (viz. the use of damnari in “Nemo in perpetuum damnari potest, quia haec est mens Evangelii!” in para. 297), it seems to us at Amoris in Latin is essentially identical to Amoris in English or whatever. But we can now say that there is an official Latin text of this hugely controversial document.