VATICAN - Benedict XVI: “There is an ever more urgent need to join forces in sustaining families, as much as possible, in a social, economic, juridical, and spiritual perspective.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The family, the family (cell of communion at the very foundations of society) is like a 'small domestic church' called to reveal God's love to the world. Dear brothers and sisters, help families to be a visible sign of this truth, to defend the values which are written in human nature itself and which are therefore common to all humanity: life, the family and education. These are not principles deriving from a [particular] confession of faith but from the application of a justice respectful of the rights of each human being. This is your mission, dear Christian families!” With these words, the Holy Father Benedict XVI entrusted this mission to the representatives from the Forum of Family Associations and from the European Federation of Catholic Family Associations participating in the congress entitled: “Alliance for the Family in Europe, associations in the leading role,” in an audience held on May 16.
After pointing out that “a political action that wishes to look towards the future, cannot leave the family outside its central focus and its planning,” the Holy Father recalled two anniversaries: 40th anniversary of Paul VI's Encyclical "Humanae vitae", and the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the "Charter of the Rights of the Family", presented by the Holy See on October 22, 1983. “Both documents were ideally linked to one another, because while the first places strong emphasis (going against the dominant cultural currents) on the nature of spousal love, not manipulating it with selfishness and being open to life, the second reveals the inalienable rights that allow the family, founded in the marriage between a man and a woman, to be the natural place for nurturing human life.” The Charter of the Rights of the Family is principally addressed to political leaders and offers those invested with responsibility for the common good a model and a point of reference upon which to base appropriate political legislation for the family. At the same time, it is addressed to all families, “encouraging them to come together in the defense and promotion of their rights.”
Pope John Paul II, rightly named “Pope of the family,” Pope Benedict XVI said, often repeated that “the future of humanity passes by way of the family,” and often emphasized the irreplaceable value of the family institution, according to the plan of God, our Creator and Father. “The union of life and love, based on marriage between a man and a woman, which forms a family, is an irreplaceable good for society, that must not be confused or placed on par with other kinds of unions. We know all too well the many challenges the family faces today, how difficult it is to live out amidst modern social conditions, the ideal of fidelity and firmness of conjugal love, to have children and educate them, to conserve the harmony of the family nucleus. Thanks be to God, there are luminous examples of strong families, open to the culture of life and love. However, unfortunately, there is also an ever-growing number of matrimonial and familial crises. From so many families, in a worryingly precarious state, we hear a cry for help, often an unconscious one, which clamors for a response from civil authorities, from ecclesial communities and from the various educational agencies. Accordingly, there is an increasingly urgent need for a common commitment to support families by every means available, from the social and economic, juridical and spiritual point of view.”
Encouraging the initiatives and proposals that have arisen during the Congress that urge “governments to promote family-related policies that give parents a real possibility of having children and bringing them up in the family,” Benedict XVI concluded his address by asking those present to always maintain “your trust in the Lord and the communion with Him in prayer and in constant recourse to His Word,” in order to be witnesses to His Love, “not only relying on human resources, but on the rock that is God, enlivened by the power of His Spirit.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/5/2008; righe 51, parole 670)