EUROPE/SPAIN - Bishops thank Pope Benedict XVI for his visit to Valencia which “confirmed Catholics in the faith and filled them with joy”.

Friday, 14 July 2006

Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - The Spanish Bishops wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI to thank him for travelling to Spain to close the 5th World Meeting of Families. They said his visit “confirmed Catholics in the faith and filled them with joy”.
In the letter dated 13 July and drafted during the first meeting of the Standing Committee of the Bishops’ Conference after the Pope’s visit the Bishops said: “We thank you for the message you left with us and we are all, bishops, clergy and laity, families in particular, ready to announce with new vigour the good news of the family based on matrimony". The letter is signed by Bishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop of Toledo, vice president, Cardinal Antonio Mª Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid; Cardinal Carlos Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop of Seville; Archbishop Luis Martínez Sistach of Barcelona; Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra of Oviedo and Fr. Juan A. Martínez Camino, secretary general of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.
The Standing Committee also sent a letter to Archbishop Agustín García Gasco of Valencia, who hosted the event, thanking him “for the hard work crowned with the success of the unforgettable event”. They also thanked all the many "church, state, municipal and other authorities and institutions and numerous individuals especially the generous volunteers". "The fruit of the Encounter with the Pope will be ever more joyful and convinced announcement of the family based on matrimony" the Bishops conclude. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 14/7/2006, righe 23, parole 310)


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