Pope: "looked down upon and mistreated" the family "teaches acceptance and solidarity "
Vatican City (
AsiaNews) - "The family today is looked down upon and mistreated," but it remains " the fundamental
cell of human society", not only because it "is the image of the Triune God in the world," but also as
"teacher of acceptance and solidarity" in a society in which "the
tyrannical rule of economic logic that dominates", "excludes and sometimes
kills, provoking many victims, many of whom are the elderly and the sick".
The
theme of family is at the heart of the Pope's thoughts this morning as he opened
the meeting with the cardinals on this issue and which he also highlighted in a
message sent to the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical
Academy for Life , on
the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of its establishment.
Addressing participants at the opening session of the Extraordinary Consistory - including those who will be created cardinals next Saturday - Pope Francis pointed out that the reflections of this meeting, which ends tomorrow, "must keep before us the beauty of the family and marriage, the greatness of this human reality which is so simple and yet so rich, consisting of joys and hopes, of struggles and sufferings, as is the whole of life. We will seek to deepen the theology of the family and discern the pastoral practices which our present situation requires. May we do so thoughtfully and without falling into "casuistry", because this would inevitably diminish the quality of our work" "This - Holy See Press Office director Father Federico Lombardi, later commented in a press briefing- "is a clear indication from the Pope: every now and again he uses specific words and very precise formulations. He is calling on people to reflect deeply on this and not to be distracted by casuistry".
"Today the family - continued Pope Francis - is looked down upon and mistreated. We are called to acknowledge how beautiful, true and good it is to start a family, to be a family today; and how indispensable the family is for the life of the world and for the future of humanity. We are called to make known God's magnificent plan for the family and to help spouses joyfully experience this plan in their lives, as we accompany them amidst so many difficulties".
At the press briefing Father Lombardi outlined the report delivered by Card. Kasper at the beginning of the working session, and which will not be published: It began with an introduction about "The rediscovery of the Gospel of the family"; its first point discussed "The family in the order of Creation " and "The vision of the family in the biblical perspective of Genesis and God's plan" and referred to the major points in proclaiming the reality " And God created man in His image, He created them male and female and blessed them and said to them: ' Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it'. "So , developing these themes, the reality of the family in the order of Creation. Then, a second point: "The structures of sin in the life of the family" , that is, problems, tensions, alienation: the alienation of the relationship between the man and the woman, between body and spirit, between man and nature; quarrels and tensions in the family; sufferings and difficulties of women and mothers; when alienation is more important than death. So the appearance of the presence of sin and of the tensions and difficulties in the reality of family life. The third point focused on "The Christian family in the order of redemption", and here Card. Kasper took up the words of the Gospel and the New Testament relating to the family, the words of Jesus, and also the words of the Letter to the Ephesians and other New Testament references in this regard. He then arrived at the subject of marriage as a sacrament, the sacrament that is also an instrument of healing and of sanctifying grace.
Father Lombardi highlighted a part of Cardinal Kasper's report that he found particularly important, on the family as the domestic Church: "It seems to me that in proposing a pastoral vision of the family today, and its place in the life of the Church, he insists on this theme, and that a broad view of the domestic Church, then it is not only the nuclear family that exists ... it is a family that is growing, a family that is welcoming , a family that is a meeting place, a family of spirituality, prayer groups , and so on . He also mentions small communities, grassroots communities and so on. So, around the idea of the domestic Church, as the central point of vitality and experience in the concrete and everyday life of the Church - he observed - it seems to me that these developments fit the theme of the role of the family and the place of the family in the life of the Church and the new evangelization.
Fr. Lombardi also mentioned a section devoted to the problem of divorced and remarried couples, dedicated explicitly to pursuing this issue, which is a well known reality. Card. Kasper discusses the issues amply and ably, reiterating the need to hold together the inseparable union of fidelity to the words of Jesus and his mercy, understanding of the mercy of God in people's lives and then in the pastoral action of the Church. In short the way forward is to be found in this binomial. He also addressed issues that will be discussed, with regard to the validity of the marriage, evoking the address of Pope Francis on January 24 this year to the officers of the Roman Rota, in which he spoke of the legal dimension and the pastoral dimension, which are not in opposition: holding together these two dimensions also with regard to the issue of the validity of marriage and judgment on it.
The Pope's message to the Academy for Life, meeting on the theme " Ageing and Disability",also highlights the role and tasks of the family. In today's society, he writes, the culture of "waste" is no longer simply about exploitation and oppression, but something new. Exclusion ultimately has to do with what it means to be a part of the society in which we live; those excluded are no longer society's underside or its fringes or its disenfranchised - they are no longer even a part of it. The excluded are not the "exploited" but the outcast, the "leftovers" (Esort. ap. Evangelii gaudium, 53)".
This discrimination and exclusion, pose an "anthropological question: what is man worth and what is his worth based on. Health is certainly an important value, but does not determine the value of the person. Health is also not in itself a guarantee of happiness: this, in fact, can also occur in the presence of poor health. The fullness toward which every human life projects itself is not in contradiction with a condition of sickness and suffering. Consequently, the lack of health and disabilities are never a good reason to exclude, or worse, to eliminate a person, and the most severe deprivation that older people suffer is not the weakening of the body and disability that may be associated with this, but abandonment, exclusion, deprivation of love".
"The family, however,
teaches us acceptance and solidarity. It
is in the family that education feeds substantially on relations of solidarity;
in the family we can learn that the loss of health is not a reason to
discriminate against certain human lives; the family teaches how to avoid
falling into individualism and balance I with We. It is where 'caring' becomes
a foundation of human existence and a moral attitude to be promoted, through
the values of commitment and solidarity.
The witness of the family is crucial for all of society to reaffirm the
importance of the older person as the subject of a community, who has a mission
to accomplish, and who only seems to receive without anything to offer".
"A
society is really welcoming towards life when it recognizes that it is valuable
even in old age, in disability, in severe disease and even when it is coming
towards the end, and when he teaches that the call to human fulfillment does
not exclude suffering, indeed, it teaches to
see the sick, suffering person a gift to the entire community, a presence that
calls for solidarity and responsibility. This is the Gospel of life".
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