The document describes the position of the Catholic Church on the meaning and role of marriage and the family, and outlines challenges towards realizing that ideal.

The document establishes that "any violence" applied "in favor of contraception or, still worse, of sterilization and procured abortion, must be altogether condemned and forcefully rejected".

Hence, “I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord's mercy” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium [24 November 2013], 44: AAS 105 [2013], 1038).

[7]Reports addressed the apparent contradictions between this footnote and Familiaris consortio and John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et paenitentiae.

Some traditionalists, notably Kazhakstani Bishop Athanasius Schneider and the group Voice of the Family, have criticized Francis' exhortation.