2023-05-15 12:30:00
May 15, 2023 / 5:30 a.m.
On the occasion of the International Day of Families that is celebrated every May 15, at ACI Prensa we remember 13 messages from Pope Francis on the value of the family institution.
In his recent speech on the “General States of the Birth”, the Pope has called on governments to implement policies with a vision of the future and to tackle the problem of the low birth rate without ideologies or preconceived positions in Europe. “Today, bringing children into the world is perceived as a business run by families”, which -he explained- affects the mentality of the young generations who grow up in uncertainty, disappointment and fear.
He International Day of Families is promoted by the United Nations (UN) “to raise awareness about the fundamental role of families in the education of children from early childhood, and the lifelong learning opportunities that exist for children and young people”, considering that “the family constitutes the basic unit of society”, indicates the website of the HIM.
1. In December 2021, Pope Francis wrote a letter to married couples on the occasion of the Year of the Family, the joy of love in which he recalled that “he The first area of education is still the familyin small gestures that are more eloquent than words”.
2. On the Feast of the Holy Family in 2021, the Holy Father warned that “for preserve harmony in the family one has to fight against the dictatorship of the self”.
3. In December 2020, the Pope indicated that “the family of Jesus, that of Nazareth, is the family-modelin which all the families of the world can find their solid point of reference and a firm inspiration”.
4. In 2017, the Pontiff explained in the Vatican that families are a precious treasure y “They are not museum pieces., rather, through them the ability to give oneself, reciprocal commitment and generous openness to others, as well as service to society, is concretized”.
5. In September 2015, the Successor of Peter express that the familyes able to heat the heart of a whole city with his testimony of love.
6. In January 2015, the Holy Father noted that “there is no perfect family, but there is no need to be afraid of imperfection, of fragility, not even of conflicts; you have to learn to deal with them constructively. For this reason, the family in which, despite its own limits and sins, everyone loves each other, becomes a school of forgiveness”.
7. In August 2014, the Pope described the family as a “love center, where the law of respect and communion reigns, capable of resisting the attacks of manipulation and domination from mundane ‘power centers’”.
8. During the World Meeting of Families which took place in Ireland in August 2018, Pope Francis pronounced numerous phrases for all the families of the world, that is worth remembering for its evangelical and formative character. Here are some of them:
In the family you always find Jesus
“The Gospel of the family is truly joy for the world, since there, in our families, Jesus can always be found; He lives there, in simplicity and poverty, as he did in the house of the Holy Family of Nazareth”.
9. The family is the most important place to transmit the faith
“The first and most important place to transmit the faith is the home, through the serene and daily example of parents who love the Lord and trust in his word.”
10. The family must be based on forgiveness
“Small and simple gestures of forgiveness, renewed every day, are the foundation on which a solid Christian family life is built. Children learn to forgive when they see their parents forgive each other. If we understand this, we can appreciate the greatness of Jesus’ teaching on fidelity in marriage.”
11. Family is the hope of the world
“You families are the hope of the Church and of the world. With their testimony of the Gospel they can help God to realize his dream, they can contribute to bringing all the children of God closer, so that they grow in unity and learn what it means for the whole world to live in peace as one big family”.
12. The church is “a family of families”
The Church is, indeed, “a family of families, and feels the need to help families in their efforts to respond faithfully and joyfully to the vocation that God has given them in society.”
13. Faced with the social crisis and demographic winter in Europe, the family, the Holy Father said on May 12, 2023, “is not part of the problem, but part of its solution.” Thus, “the birth challenge is a matter of hope”, affirmed the Pope before a culture enemy of the family in which we live today. The younger generations “live in a social climate in which founding a family is becoming a titanic effort, instead of being a shared value that everyone recognizes and supports.”
The #natality and the reception reveal to us how much happiness there is in a society. A happy community naturally develops the desire to generate, welcome and integrate, while an unhappy one is reduced to a sum of individuals who try to defend what they have at all costs.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex_es) May 12, 2023
#phrases #Pope #Francis