Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Among the “nonnegotiable”, principles frequently recalled by the authoritative Magisterium of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, there is one which we could describe as “inclusive”, in the sense that its defence and promotion includes several other principles indispensable for the life of society: this principle is the Family.
In the “Letter on Education”, which the Holy Father addressed to the diocese and the city of Rome, and which will be officially consigned to the Cardinal Vicar and the faithful, on Saturday 23 February in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, the Pope indicates that the Family, founded on marriage between a man and a woman, is the fundamental nucleus of any education, being the natural cradle of human co-existence in which joys and sorrows, love and sacrifice are wisely mixed, educating the person to become adult, mature and responsible.
Catholics are well aware that the Church's Social Doctrine, continually inspired by human reason and natural law, is not of an exclusively confessional character, instead it is an objective good for the whole of humanity. Therefore of no value in this area are the objections such as “ what applies to Catholics does not apply to others”, or worse “confessional morals cannot be imposed on the civil world ”. Catholic Social Doctrine concerns not merely public order or the interests of a nation. It proposes genuine common good, whose name, under the present day circumstances, is FAMILY.
The future of a country, including the future of Catholic Italy, is measured fundamentally by the common good of the Family. To the extent in which the natural Family is protected, sustained, also financially, defended from dangerous and artificial juridical drifts, put in a condition to exist, to welcome life and to educate in freedom, there will be a future. The future, like the common good, is called Family.
In the future, any government in Italy, Spain or in any country, and with it, any political proposal, must necessarily compete and be judged by all, in the light of the common good of the natural Family which cannot be renounced.
With regard to the common good, no longer admissible are “last minute transformisms”, formal declarations, followed by diametrically opposed juridical attitudes, scenographic stances to defend of the Family on the one hand, and attempts to propose registras for de facto couples, of whatever sex, on the other. Although it is not our task to enter the strictly political area, nevertheless, as persons, we cannot fail to observe that these attitudes lead to implosion from within of what in certain countries has been proposed as new. New will be called family; new will be called cosistency.
The future is called Family and anyone who wants to speak of the future, promising something new, cannot deceive with regard to the common good. The stability of individuals, youth, society itself and the effectiveness of education are rooted in the common good of the Family and only those who defend the Family will be able to truly serve the country, the future and the true common good.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls: “The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life” [Cf. CCC, n. 1603]. (Agenzia Fides 31/1/2008; righe 38, parole 502)
