Cardinal Sepe: “The Church seeks good of society when she defends the family”

Madrid, Spain, Sep 19, 2005 / 22:00 pm

Before more than 15,000 people gathered in Torreciudad, Spain, to celebrate the 16^th Marian Day of the Family, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, said the Church “only seeks the good of society when she defends and proposes the unity of the family.”

He noted that attempts to change the nature of the family constitute “a serious attack on human society because while the family is experiencing difficulties in various parts of the world, its potential for evangelization is truly amazing.”

Cardinal Sepe encouraged the faithful gathered to be more conscious of the value of the Catholic identity of the family, and he recalled that Pope Benedict XVI has always proclaimed that the Church cannot cease to proclaim that marriage and the family are irreplaceable.

“I admire the enthusiasm for living this identity, for bearing witness to it, and the Church has the duty to proclaim the Gospel, living out her missionary identity and bearing witness to the teachings of the Gospel,” he noted.

The cardinal also mentioned the coming Synod of Bishops, which will take place in Rome on October 2.  “It will be of great importance, because it will lead us into a deeper reflection on the Eucharist as fundamental for the Church and for each of the baptized, who find in it the necessary nourishment for their mission,” he concluded.