VALENCIA, Spain (CNS): Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of families from every corner of the globe, Pope Benedict XVI urged mothers and fathers to be open to life and to create a home based on love, acceptance and mercy.
Though the Spanish seaport city of Valencia was still reeling from a July 3 subway disaster that left 42 people dead and dozens more injured, the atmosphere during the Pope’s July 8-9 visit was full of joy and celebration.
The Pope journeyed to Spain’s third largest city to help close the July 1-9 5th World Meeting of Families and to focus on its theme, “The Transmission of Faith in the Family”.
In his closing Mass homily on July 9, Pope Benedict emphasised that families have a duty to make sure “the good news of Christ will reach their children with the utmost clarity and authenticity”.
Handing down Church teaching and Gospel values also entails consistently living out those same values of love and charity, the Pope said.
Children will be more likely to appreciate and cherish their Christian heritage if they witness their parents’ constant “love, permeated with a living faith”, along with experiencing the support of a Christian community, he said.
The Pope urged husbands and wives to be open to the gift of life, saying each human is not created by accident or random selection, but is part of “a loving plan of God”.
The Church in Spain has been at loggerheads with the government led by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for what the Church sees as promoting policies that attack the family and life.
