VATICAN CITY (CNS) – If they really want to improve the quality of life of their citizens, city and regional officials must promote policies to strengthen families, Pope Benedict XVI said.
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"The intrinsic value" of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman must be better understood and supported, the pope said Jan. 11 in a speech to officials from the city and province of Rome and from the Lazio region.
While the church is doing its part to educate and assist families, he said, a government policy on family life and for families also is necessary.
The pope called for "initiatives that would make it less difficult and burdensome for young couples to form a family and then generate and educate their children, promote employment for young adults, contain as far as possible the cost of housing and increase the number of preschools and nurseries."
"On the other hand," he said, "projects that aim at attributing inappropriate juridical recognition to others forms of unions appear dangerous and counterproductive" and inevitably would end up "weakening and destabilizing the legitimate family founded on matrimony."
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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
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