VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI in Valencia for the 5th World Meeting of Families: “I wish to propose the central role which the family founded on marriage has for the Church and for society”

Valencia (Agenzia Fides) - “The reason for my visit it to take part in the 5th World Meeting of Families on the theme ‘Handing on the faith in the Family. I wish to propose the central role which the family founded on marriage has for the Church and for society. This is an irreplaceable institution according to God’s plan whose fundamental values the Church can never cease to announce and promote, that it may be lived with a sense of responsibility and joy”. With these words during the welcoming ceremony at Valencia-Manises airport in the late morning of Saturday 8 July, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI explained the reason for his visit. The Pope was welcomed by the King and Queen of Spain, ecclesiastical authorities and numerous political and civil authorities representing the central and local government.
After the ceremony of welcome on his way to the Cathedral the Pope stopped at the metro station where many people were killed and injured in an accident on July 3. Then the Holy Father went to the Cathedral dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption to meet priests and men and women religious including nuns of enclosed orders. In the Chapel of the Sacred Chalice which preserves the cup which according to tradition was used by Jesus at the Last Supper, the Pope met the Bishops of Spain and signed a letter addressed to the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. In the letter the Pope said he gave “thanks to the Lord that I have been able to come to Spain as Pope, in order to take part in the World Meeting of Families in Valencia”, and he also thanks the bishops, especially the archbishop of Valencia and his auxiliaries for the efforts made to prepare and celebrate this event . “You know that I follow closely and with much interest the life of the Church in your country, a country with deep Christian roots, one which has greatly contributed and must still contribute to the proclamation and spread of the faith to many other parts of the world… am aware of, and I encourage the impulse that you are giving to pastoral activity at a time of rapid secularisation, which can also affect the internal life of Christian communities”. Pope Benedict XVI urged the Bishops to “Continue dauntlessly to proclaim that prescinding from God, acting as if he did not exist or relegating faith to the purely private sphere, undermines the truth about man and compromises the future of culture and society. On the contrary, lifting one’s gaze to the living God, the garantor of our freedom and of truth, is a premise for arriving at a new humanity. Nowadays, in a special way the world needs people capable of proclaiming and bearing witness to God who is love, and consequently the one light which in the end, illumines the darkness of the world and gives us strength to live and work” The Holy Father’s letter closes with a call to the Bishops “I exhort you earnestly to preserve and increase your fraternal communion, as a witness and model of the ecclesial communion which should reign in all the faithful people entrusted to your care”. The Pope assured them: “I pray for you, and I pray for Spain. I ask you to pray for me and for the whole Church.”.
Leaving the Cathedral the Pope went to the Basilica of the Virgen de los Desamparados patroness of Valencia, where he prayer for the metro accident victim’s in the presence of their families. The Pope asked those present to join him in the recitation of the Our Father asking the Virgen de los Desamparado”, to comfort the grieving and suffering families.
Outside the Basilica the seminarians of Spain and their families were waiting for the Pope for the recitation of the midday Angelus prayer. “Your parent’s love, devotion and fidelity, and the concord which reigns in your families, is the setting which best enables you to hear God’s call and to accept the gift of a vocation - Pope Benedict XVI told the seminarians before he led the Marian prayer -. Live intensely the years of preparation in the seminary, with the guidance and help of your formators, and with the docility and complete trust of the Apostles, who followed Jesus without hesitation. Learn from the Virgin Mary how to accept your vocation without reserve, with joy and generosity.”.
That afternoon the Pope paid a courtesy visit to the Royal Family at the Generalitat Palace and then at the Archbishop’s House Pope Benedict XVI received a visit by the head of the Spanish government. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 10/7/2006 - righe 56, parole 853)