Vatican City, Nov 5, 2007 / 08:55 am
Today the Pope received members of the New Families Movement, established forty years ago, who were participating in a gathering focused on "A House Built upon Rock: The Lived Gospel, an Answer to the Problems of Today's Family".
While highlighting that the movement forms a network of 800,000 families in 182 nations across five continents, the Holy Father recalled that its pastoral work is an outgrowth of "four pillars: spirituality, education, a social nature, and solidarity".
"Your commitment of silent and profound evangelization gives witness that only familial unity, a gift of the God who is Love, makes the family a true abode for love, a house that welcomes life and a school of Christian values for its children," he said.
The Pope also asked that, owing to their commitment, "pastoral strategies might be found that respond to the growing needs of today's family and the multiple challenges it has to face so that its particular mission in the Church and in society might not be lessened".