5 notable shifts in the pope's new document on family life

In a document on families released on Friday, titled "The Joy of Love," Pope Francis has laid out 264 pages on contraception, marriage, abuse and family life. Notably, he called on Catholics to rely on their own consciences rather than on rigid church doctrines. He said the church must no longer sit in judgment and "throw stones'' at those who fail to live up to the Gospel's ideals of perfection in marriage and family life.

"I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion," he wrote. "But I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness."

Although Francis has not changed church doctrine, here are five key takeaways in the document:

1. On the subject on contraception, Francis said couples should make decisions about their family size according to their own conscience. He added that the contraceptive method of abstaining from sex during a woman's fertile time, a method previously sanctioned by the Catholic church, is a method to be promoted but others are not forbidden.

2. He condemned the "verbal, physical and sexual violence" many women endure in marriages and rejected "sexual submission" to men.

3. Francis also came out strongly against the "reprehensible'' practice of female genital mutilation.

4. He said the belief that feminism was to blame for the crisis in families today is completely invalid.

5. He encouraged the church to be more welcoming to gay Catholics, but he rejected that gay partnerships were equal to heterosexual marriages in the eyes of the church.

With files from the Associated Press

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