Vatican City, Aug 29, 2018 / 03:57 am
Divorce and separation may be common, but the model families should strive after is unity, and people should not forget those husbands and wives who, even amid difficulties, continue to be faithful, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
"We forget so many families – so many! – who lead their families, their children, with fidelity, asking for forgiveness when there are problems," he said off-the-cuff. We forget because it is fashionable, often in magazines or newspapers, to talk about who is divorced from whom, and so on.
"But please: this is a bad thing," he continued. "It's true: I respect everyone, we must respect people, but the ideal is not divorce, the ideal is not separation, the ideal is not the destruction of the family. The ideal is the united family. So forward: this is ideal!"
Pope Francis spoke about the family during his Aug. 29 general audience, in which he reflected on his trip to Ireland Aug. 25-26 for the World Meeting of Families.