La Paz, Bolivia, Mar 23, 2009 / 11:50 pm (CNA).- The Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, reaffirmed last week the value of marriage as the cornerstone of the family and said the sacrament that unites a man and a woman “is a fundamental treasure.”

Archbishop Diquattro made his statements during the recent inauguration of the Week for Life and the Family, organized by the Apostolate of the New Evangelization, in preparation for March 25, the feast of the Annunciation.

The archbishop called marriage “a good that has been given to man and woman to give them the chance to fulfill the richness of the person in its fullness”

He recalled the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes which affirms that the truth about love and the value of marriage “has two fundamental aspects: the intrinsic value of marriage instituted by God and that is also elevated to the value of a sacrament.”

“Each man and woman who marry in Christ receive the sacrament and they celebrate it from the moment in which they are participants in the very love of Christ,” he explained.

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