Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Valencia (Agenzia Fides) - With a Mass centred on Christian hope in the face of the mystery of death and a few words instead of the prepared speech by Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family the customary four day WMF Theological-pastoral Congress which brings together experts in education and family pastoral opened yesterday 4 July in Valencia. Themes for reflection will centre on the theme of the event ‘handing on of the faith in the family’. The Cardinal explained that he did not give his prepared address to the Congress to enable Congress participants to go to the Cathedral for the funeral Mass for those killed in the tragic metro accident the day before yesterday, Monday 3 July, assuring Spain that the “Pope and the whole Church share the country’s grief for the dead but firm in hope and faith in eternal life".
After a few practical announcements, the day’s programme began. Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, in his address on “Marriage and secular state" said that undoubtedly today the value and beauty of marriage has been obscured and that "the request to give unmarried couples and same sex unions the same juridical status as marriage is the coherent point of arrival of a mistaken understanding of a secular state", based on principles which cannot be applied to the family. Replying to the question “what do we risk?”, the Archbishop of Bologna said: "An unprecedented crisis of the institution of marriage which will accompany the construction of a society of total strangers. The Tower of Babel will become daily more and more the emblem of our social constructions". The second conference given by Prof. Xavier Lacroix, dean of the faculty of theology at Lyons University in France was on the theme "The Family and the primate of the faith in a secularised world”.
Yesterday there was also the opening of the International Family Fair Exhibition. As a sign of respect, at midday the recitation of the Angelus included special prayers for the metro accident victims and their families led by the Archbishop of Valencia Agustín García-Gasco together with Bishop Ricardo Blázquez president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Reig Juan Antonio of the diocese of Cartagena and the former Military Ordinary. A message of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI was also read out. The Archbishop visited the 150 stands representing activities in different countries all over the world in favour of the Family. He said the Exhibition, as part of the International Family Fair, the first of its kind on the occasion of WMF was a good way of demonstrating what is being done and what can be done to support families. The programme of the International Family Fair Exhibition will go ahead except for planned festive events which have been cancelled in keeping with the announced 3 days national mourning .
Fides spoke with two of the numerous volunteers helping with this major Church event, on duty at the recreation area of the International Family Fair. They said they were finding the experience deeply enriching and that they hoped that the Pope’s presence at the weekend would help people realise the family’s unique importance for the education of children and for the positive development of society. They said it would be a good opportunity for the people to see and feel that the Pope, although he is the Bishop of Rome, is close to all people. It will also give them a chance to listen to his clear presentation of the Church’s doctrine on the family. (JO/RG) (Agenzia Fides 5/7/2006, righe 39, parole 558)
