Pope calls for the defence and protection of the traditional family

(Saturday, July 8, 2006): Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday urged Spain to defend the traditional family as he began a whirlwind trip to the country where the Church and government have clashed over the legalisation of gay marriage. Saying there were certain things to which the Church must just say "No", the pope said the family based on heterosexual marriage was "a unique institution in God's plan".
The 79-year-old pope received a tumultuous welcome in this Mediterrenean coastal city, where he will spend little more than 24 hours to wrap up the Catholic Church’s 5^th World Meeting of Families on Sunday.
Speaking at the welcome ceremony at Valencia’s Manises Airport, he said he wished to set forth the central role which the family, based on marriage, had for the Church and for society. “The family is a unique institution in God’s plan, and the Church cannot fail to proclaim and promote its fundamental importance, so that it can live out its vocation with a constant sense of responsibility and joy,” Pope Benedict said.
Tens of thousands of people cheering and waving yellow and white Vatican flags lined the route of the motorcade from the airport to the Assumption Cathedral in the city. Pope Benedict's first stop was at the site of a train crash that killed 42 people last Monday. Bowing his head in silence towards the pavement outside Jesus station, Pope Benedict made the sign of the cross, laid a wreath of flowers and asked the Madonna to console the bereaved. Later, he prayed with members of the bereaved families in the Basilica of the Abandoned.
Speaking to reporters on his plane from Rome, the pope was asked about the gay marriage law and other changes in Spanish society that have been challenged by the Roman Catholic Church. He said he wanted to stress the positive aspects of family life in Spain and elsewhere but added that there were some problems that could not be ignored. "It is true that there are certain things that Christian
life says 'No' to. We want to make people understand that according to human nature, it is a man and a woman who are made for each other and made to give humanity a future," he added. "Let's shine a light on these positive things so we can try to make people understand why the Church cannot accept certain things but at the same time wants to respect people and help them," he said. But he said preferred to stress the reality of "families that love each other ... which gives hope for the future." The Spanish law gives gays the same rights as heterosexuals who marry, including on adoption and inheritance.