.- Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona, Spain emphasized the importance of marriage and the family in his weekly letter set to be published Dec. 26.
The cardinal wrote that marriage and the family are “the hope of humanity.” He explained that by becoming man and living “in the silence of the home at Nazareth,” God teaches us “without words about the dignity and primordial value of marriage and the family.”
The cardinal then reflected on Pope Benedict XVI’s exhortation during his visit to Spain last November. At the time, the Pope stressed that Catholics must “show to all that God is the God of peace and not of violence, of freedom and not coercion, of unity and not discord,” the cardinal recalled.
The Pope also called for “moral progress,” without neglecting technological, social and cultural progress, Cardinal Sistach said. This entails “care, protection and help for the family” and “the defense of the lives children as sacred and inviolable from the moment of conception,” Cardinal Sistach said.
