VATICAN CITY, JAN. 11, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican spokesman says that this week in Mexico, those who live the gift of hope and joy in families will give testimony to it, and invite others to believe in love.
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, dedicated his remarks on the most recent episode of Vatican Television’s Octava Dies to the 6th World Meeting of Families, convoked by Benedict XVI from Jan. 14 to 18 in Mexico City.
The event, focused on «The Family as Educator in Human and Christian Values» and expected to draw a million people, will serve to show the world the «beauty of the family,» the spokesman affirmed.
«Everyone knows that the family is in difficulties in our times — that a widespread mentality undermines its stability, denying the value of an enduring commitment and not recognizing in the fruitful union of a man and a woman the privileged character of the basic unit of human society,» Father Lombardi said. «Everyone knows that the Catholic Church has stood up decisively for the family and spares no interventions on its behalf, even at the risk of appearing insistent and, in the end, unpopular.»
But Father Lombardi stressed the message of hope and joy that the Christian families gathered in Mexico will propose to the world.
«Perhaps not everyone has understood that with this commitment, the Church is not […] looking out only for its own interests. It simply seeks the good of men and women of today and tomorrow,» he observed. «[The Church] wants to defend for them the basic place of love and the joy of life. In most cases children without united parents are not happy, or at least have more problems. Many people who are alone or divided are not happy.
«Instead, a family united by love is not only a place of joy for its members, but it is also able to welcome — a place of love and a source of joy for others who are less fortunate, the natural place for the transmission of life and the way to live it well.»
Christian families, Father Lombardi concluded, «from all over the world will meet in Mexico not to pronounce anathemas, but to give everyone a message of hope and joy. It is beautiful for families to propose this message. It is also possible. Those who live this great gift want to bear witness to it, to invite everyone to continue to believe in love.»
