Pope Francis has published new guidelines on family life that argue the Church should show more understanding of modern realities.

The document, based on two Synods on the issue, was eagerly awaited by the world’s 1.3bn Roman Catholics.

Entitled “On Love in the Family”, it does not change Catholic doctrine.

But it opens the way for bishops in each country to interpret doctrine to suit their own culture.

It details the Pope’s views on family life, marriage, contraception and bringing up children.

The document is the culmination of three years’ work by the Pope.

Then he brought bishops and cardinals together for two Synods in Rome, at which he encouraged them to debate and even to disagree over issues that divide the Church in many countries.

Among the most divisive issues are offering communion to the divorced and remarried, contraception and the treatment of gay Catholics.

The lengthy document shows exactly where Pope Francis stands as he steps into the minefield of Catholic teaching on the family.

While conservatives do not want him to change doctrine, liberals hoped he would tell the Church to show a more merciful attitude to those whose families do not conform to the current Catholic ideal.

Some in the Church have called for measures which allow a priest or a bishop to decide privately, on a case-by-case basis, if a Catholic who has divorced and remarried can be fully readmitted and receive communion.

While progressives such as the influential Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany support this policy, conservatives maintain it would devalue the principle established by Jesus of marriage being indissoluble.

At the conclusion of the Synod last year, Francis castigated Church leaders who, he said, buried their heads in the sand over the issue. He argued that their adherence to rigid doctrine was over-riding their concern for the suffering of families.

It is a document in which the Pope performs a delicate balancing act, trying to ensure that he does not alienate traditionalists, nor those who wanted radical change, our religion correspondent Caroline Wyatt says.

What the Pope says is likely to be claimed as a victory by both sides, with enough to satisfy both traditionalists and liberals – though it is likely to disappoint gay Catholics, who had hoped for more than greater pastoral understanding, she adds. (BBC)

•Photo shows Pope Francis.

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