Pope to attend the Fifth World Meeting of Families

VATICAN CITY - When Pope Benedict XVI visits Valencia, Spain, July 8-9 to close the Fifth World Meeting of Families, thousands of families will have spent the week discussing ways they can better pass on their Christian faith to their children.

Given the many challenges families face today, the July 1-9 meeting will act as a clearinghouse for experts, religious leaders and regular families from all over the world to pitch ideas and exchange experiences. But whatever initiatives or solutions participants agree on, they also will be eagerly looking forward to the pope's presence. Pope Benedict has made it known he was not going to travel as much as his predecessor, so many see his presence in Valencia as a strong sign of his support for families. The World Meeting of Families and the Pontifical Council for the Family were established by Pope John Paul II in 1981 when he published his apostolic exhortation, "Familiaris Consortio," on the role of the Christian family. The first world meeting was held in Rome in 1994 and since then, it has taken place in other cities every three years. Each meeting has drawn more than a million people, and organizers expect up to 1.5 million pilgrims in Valencia. The meeting's main purpose has always been to "celebrate the divine gift of the family and to unite families in prayer, speaking, learning, sharing" and to help families as the "domestic church" and evangelizers, said the Fifth World Meeting of Families' Web site, www.wmf2006.org/en/. In a 2005 letter referring to this year's meeting, Pope Benedict said parents are the first evangelizers of children. They are called to help build up "a moral universe" that is "rooted in the will of God, where the child grows in the human and Christian values that give life its full meaning," he said. But for many, that task is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in societies with rising divorce rates, limited economic opportunities that often force a parent to emigrate far from home, and a growing secular climate that can seem hostile to traditional values and social structures. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, which organizes each world meeting, believes the pope's participation in this year's event will add extra momentum to the pro-family movement. Cardinal Lopez Trujillo told Catholic News Service in mid-March that the meeting will "bring fire" to the cause. He said Pope Benedict has made a number of forceful comments defending the family and the dignity of marriage as the true expression of love between a man and a woman. Over the past year, the pope has found many occasions to extol the virtues and importance of a stable, loving family. He also has urged bishops and governments to offer needed pastoral, social and political support for a family based on marriage between a man and a woman. Governments should be concerned about the makeup and condition of their communities' families, he said May 13, because "as John Paul II liked to say, 'the future of humanity passes by way of the family.'" Many of Spain's bishops will be eager to hear what the pope has to say in separate meetings with them and the country's prime minister. The church in Spain has been at odds with the Socialist-led government over a wide range of issues since Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was elected in 2004. In just two years, the Spanish government has made divorce quicker and easier for couples, reduced the role of Catholic education in public schools and become the first European country to allow homosexual people to marry and adopt children. Belgium and the Netherlands allow same-sex marriages, while some other European states have decided to recognize or are debating recognizing civil unions between homosexual couples. Legislation aimed at relaxing abortion laws is also proposed, and the government gave the green light for embryonic stem-cell research in 2005, making Spain one of a few European countries to authorize such experiments. But for Spain, where 39.5 million of 42 million people are Catholic, the bishops are especially concerned about what they see as the government's attacks on the family and life. Even the city that will host the world families meeting and the papal visit is not immune to the controversies. During its June 22-24 congress on diversity in Europe's families, Valencia's gay community hosted its annual gay pride parade just yards from the city's Catholic cathedral. Bishop Pietro Fragnelli of Castellaneta told Vatican Radio June 20 that whatever comes out of this year's World Meeting of Families and the pope's visit "will be important for all the churches in Europe." He said whatever the pope does and says in Valencia will be decisive for Europe's Christians and families because they yearn "to rediscover the role of the family in carrying on the faith" and to become protagonists in handing down a complete moral and ethical Christian-based education to their children.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops