Vatican City, Mar 25, 2010 / 17:53 pm
Meeting with the bishops of Scandinavia this morning on the occasion of their "ad limina" visit, the Holy Father placed particular emphasis on the centrality of the family to maintaining a healthy society. As "the first and indispensable teacher of peace," he said, it is of interest to the entire population "to defend and promote stable family life."
Pope Benedict told the Scandinavian bishops that "one of the most important messages that the people of the Nordic lands need to hear from you is a reminder of the centrality of the family for the life of a healthy society."
He expressed his sadness that, in recent years, there has been "a weakening of the commitment to the institution of marriage and the Christian understanding of human sexuality," the very ideals that "for so long served as the foundation of personal and social relations in European society."
Benedict XVI then underscored children's rights to life and to being brought up "within marriage."