The post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia is released. It suggests in footnote 329 that when couples in a second, invalid union abstain from sexual intercourse with each other, faithfulness and children are harmed. In note 351, it suggests that people in "irregular situations" may get "the help of the sacraments".

In a biography, Cdl. Godfried Danneels admitted he had campaigned for the electrion of Cdl. Bergoglio as pope; Pope Francis appointed him as a delegate to the Synod on the Family, although Danneels had told a sexual abuse victim, a priest, not to expose the perpetrator, his uncle who had since become a bishop; he had urged the king of Belgium to sign a pro-abortion law; and he had written a letter to the Belgian government supporting gay-marriage legislation. In 2013, Cdl. Danneels stood at the side of Pope Francis on the balcony of St. Peter’s when the Pope made his first public appearance after his election.