| International News

Speaking to hundreds of thousands during a July 8, 2006, vigil rally and to more than one million at the closing July 9 Mass of the fifth World Meeting of Families here, Pope Benedict stressed that family founded on marriage between a man and a woman and open to procreation is “an indispensable foundation for society” and key to fight against society’s “widespread hedonism.”

"The family is a unique institution in God's plan, and the church cannot fail to proclaim and promote its fundamental importance," Benedict said on his arrival from Rome on July 8, where he was greeted by King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

He appealed to Spanish “government leaders and legislators to reflect on the evident benefits which home in peace and harmony assure to individuals and the family, the neuralgic center of society” during his vigil address.

“This meeting provides a new impetus for proclaiming the gospel of the family, reaffirming the strength and identity of the family founded upon marriage and open to the generous gift of life, where children are accompanied in their bodily and spiritual growth,” the pope said. “This is the best way to counter a widespread hedonism which reduces human relations to banality and empties them of their authentic value and beauty.”

During a July 8 meeting with the prime minister, the pope discussed the role of the family in society and disagreements with the church over gay marriage among other issues, according to press reports. Zapatero did not attend the closing Mass, which was seen as an apparent snub of the pontiff over tensions caused by his government’s support of gay marriage and moves to ease restrictions on divorce and birth control.

The pope reminded the estimated 1.5 million at the closing World Meeting of Families Mass that Catholic Church seeks to remind the faithful and the society that “true human freedom” derives from understanding that all are children of God and are interconnected.

“In contemporary culture, we often see an excessive exaltation of the freedom of the individual as an autonomous subject, as if we were self-created and self-sufficient, apart from our relationship with others and our responsibilities in their regard,” Pope Benedict said.

”Attempts are being made to organize the life of society on the basis of subjective and ephemeral desires alone, with no reference to objective, prior truths such as the dignity of each human being and his inalienable rights and duties, which every social group is called to serve,” he said.

The church reminds the world that the individual has been “created in God's image and likeness,” the pope said. “Christian education,” he added, “is consequently an education in freedom and for freedom.”

Pointing to stresses on families being pulled by societal “centrifugal forces,” the pope noted during the vigil rally the responsibility and commitment required by husband and wife not only to say “a complete ‘yes’” to each other in marriage, but “the need to say a ‘yes’ of acceptance to the children whom they have given birth to or adopted.”

“Together with passing on the faith and the love of God, one of the greatest responsibilities of families is that of training free and responsible persons,” the pope said, adding that families serve as “a school” where children who see parents and other adults “live life with joy and enthusiasm” learn how to overcome life’s obstacles and that every person is worthy of love and respect.

“To promote the values of marriage does not stand in the way of fully experiencing the happiness that man and women encounter in their mutual love. Christian faith and ethics are not meant to stifle love, but to make it healthier, stronger and more truly free,” Pope Benedict said.

He called on the church to offer “support, encouragement and spiritual nourishment” to ensure that families are not isolated and can remain cohesive in the face of “trial or difficulty.”

The pope paid special attention on both days to the role of grandparents as “a treasure which the younger generations should not be denied.”

“They can be – and so often are – the guarantors of the affection and tenderness which every human being needs to give and receive. They offer little ones the perspective of time, they are memory and richness of families. In no way should they ever be excluded from the family circle,” he said during the vigil rally.

“The family includes not only parents and children, but also grandparents and ancestors,” the pope said at the closing Mass July 9. “The family thus appears to us as a community of generations and the guarantee of a patrimony of traditions.”

While in Valencia, Benedict paused briefly to pray at Jesus underground station, the site of the July 3, 2006, train derailment which killed 42 people.

At the end of the Mass concluding the World Meeting of Families, Benedict XVI designated Mexico City as the host of the sixth such event in 2009.

The World Meeting of Families was begun by Pope John Paul II, with previous meetings held in Rome in 1994 and 2000, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1997 and Manila, Philippines, in 2003.