The family is key to the economy, says Spanish cardinal

Madrid, Spain, Feb 11, 2008 / 13:40 pm

In his weekly pastoral letter, the Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Agustin Garcia-Gasco, again defended the family and said Catholics should vote in the upcoming elections for those who defend it and strengthen it.

The cardinal’s letter, entitled “Family and the Economy,” emphasized that thinking in terms of the family “helps to envision a more just and more humane world economy,” because “the being and mission of the family helps to achieve more justice between nations.”

“Faced with the upcoming elections,” Cardinal Garcia-Gasco stressed, “Christians should study the different electoral proposals to discern which ones respect the purpose of the family and, on the contrary, which ones foster directly or indirectly unstable relations.”

He warned that “some reduce the family to a mere ‘unstable couple’,” adding that the Church “proclaims that the family is the basic cell of society and therefore deserves special and specific protection that must not be confused with other human relations.”

Christians “must be committed to making sure the social value that a stable, permanent family is for its members and for society is recognized,” he continued.

“When the family answers to its true identity,” the cardinal said, “it promotes an authentic experience of peace” as “it is not based on egoism or hedonism, but its commitment extends out so that all members can have what they need to live decently.”

Cardinal Garcia-Gasco pointed out that in Spain today, “many married and engaged couples experience tremendous difficulties which they must face in order to have decent housing and to provide basic sustenance for the family.”

“There is a direct relationship between shared values and the proper functioning of the economy,” he stressed.  The “key” for ensuring the economy favors the common good is “the creation of a climate of mutual trust, respect for one’s word, keeping one’s commitments, stability in the law for the proper exercise of civil freedoms and basic rights.”