Beautiful Families Needed, Says Cardinal

20-09-2008

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Christian families must be a "burning fire" in society to show plainly the beauty of Christian life, says the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Cardinal Ennio Antonelli affirmed this Thursday when he met with a group of journalists to present the 6th World Meeting of Families, which will be held Jan. 13-18 in Mexico City. The theme is "The Family as Educator in Human and Christian Values."

Benedict XVI had hoped to attend the meeting, but Vatican officials have recently reported that he will not make the trip.

The "beauty of the family must be witnessed in a concrete way," explained Cardinal Antonelli, who called for "building genuine Christian families that can be a burning fire, a point of reference for all." He encouraged families characterized by "profound unity, respect of differences, generous openness to life" and "the care of the weakest."

The cardinal mentioned the "two general lines of work" for the pontifical council he heads: to promote "respect for human life, the ethics of life, namely, so-called bioethics," and "the appreciation of the family in the Church, in culture and in civil society."

"Life and the family are fundamental goods of the person, who is not only an individual, that is, a unique subject, unrepeatable, free and self-conscious, but is constitutively in relation with others and with the Other," he added.

Marriage preparation

Cardinal Antonelli, who was recently appointed to this dicastery after the April death of Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, explained the projects he hopes to carry out, which are basically two: "to increase consultations with bishops, episcopal conferences, families, experts and institutions," and "to favor the pastoral care of families in the parishes."

The second aspect, he said, is especially important, given that what must be made known is the reality of the happy Christian family, based on the appropriate preparation of couples, which must begin in the stage of engagement.

Hence, Cardinal Antonelli is not satisfied with a pre-marriage course, but wants to see a proper and genuine preparation, "the most personalized possible."

Likewise, the prelate affirmed, great care must be taken of families in difficulty or those not fully in tune with the Church.

In this connection, the cardinal stressed that attention must not only be given to the divorced, but also to family violence, to dysfunctional relations between parents and children, and to other problems which often are not reflected in the statistics but are as painful as separations.

The Church, he said, must be present in such situations to support couples in difficulty, and not leave them alone, showing her willingness to open spaces for all -- to be "Teacher and Mother."

Divorced

In regard to the delicate question of divorced persons who have remarried, the cardinal said the Church tries to "receive them in every possible way, to make them see that the Church is by their side, inserting them in a concrete way in the life of the Christian community and creating specific channels of support for them."

Nevertheless, the cardinal affirmed that "indissoluble marriage is in the Gospel, and the Church must recognize objectively that these situations are not in keeping with the Gospel itself."

Given that the Church cannot approve these situations, because it must be a "public sign of the Gospel and its exigencies," Cardinal Antonelli explained that he does "not see possibilities" for the divorced to receive the Eucharist, given that "the latter requires full communion with the Church at the internal and external level."

For Cardinal Antonelli, this situation is the perfect example of original sin, "which is at the root of all sin: man who wants to be autonomous from God, autonomous from objective truth, and who never seeks the truth, does not adhere to it, but attempts to construct truth himself, to establish what is true and what is false."

The Church's task, therefore, is to help people understand and live the truth without renouncing the teaching of the magisterium. In this regard, Cardinal Antonelli quoted Pope John Paul II who said: "We must not lower the mountain."

"The mountain is high, it is difficult, Christianity is difficult," but "it is necessary to help people go up the mountain with their own feet," so that "at least they will be able to take the steps of which they are capable."

http://www.zenit.org/article-23661?l=english