TORRECIUDAD, Spain, SEPT. 18, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- Benedict XVI hopes the faithful will promote laws and systems that support the family.
The Pope made these comments in a message sent Saturday to some 15,000 people gathered in the shrine of Torreciudad for the XVI Marian Day of the Family, an initiative begun by St. Josemaría Escrivá to put Christian homes under the patronage of Our Lady of the Angels.
The Holy Father’s message was read at the conclusion of the Mass presided over by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
«Commit yourselves,» Benedict XVI said in his message, «to the arduous work of promoting and strengthening the laws and systems that positively favor the rights and duties of the family, a community of life founded by the Creator, and permanent sign of hope for all peoples.»
Cardinal Sepe denounced in his homily those «proceedings that subjugate society,» that run against the traditional idea of family, used by «totalitarian forces that want their subjects to be not persons, but rather prefer them to be isolated individuals, who are easily controlled.»
He added: «The exemplary testimony of so many families constitute today in the Church a light that fills us with hope, a sign of the consoling presence of the Holy Spirit, the authentic protagonist of the mission.»
