Madrid, Spain, Feb 24, 2009 / 14:14 pm
The Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, presided last Thursday at the opening session for the cause of canonization of the married couple Paquita Dominguez Susin and Tomas Alvira Alvira.
With the eight children of the Opus Dei couple present at the ceremony, Cardinal Rouco underscored the “need to proclaim and bear witness to the gospel of the family,” and referred to the Alviras as “an example of this testimony in the 20th century.”
Cardinal Rouco recalled that before the new millennium, Pope John Paul II established the study of holy Christian marriages as one of the objectives for the Church. At the time, John Paul II said, “The Christian witness of the family is very much needed.”
The ceremony for the Alviras took place in the crypt of St. Michael’s Basilica in Madrid.