Family Lexicon published in Russian

(Aug.19,2009): - Russian-language speakers will now have access to the Vatican's concise definitions of family and life-related terminology, after a recent publication by the Conventual Franciscans in Moscow. Vatican Daily L'Osservatore Romano reported last week that this terminological dictionary from the Pontifical Council for the Family, is now available in eight languages: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, Arabic, German and Russian. The council's president, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, wrote in the lexicon's introduction that this publication will help and update readers on the principal questions at the heart of the cultural, ethical and social debate on the family and on human life.A first copy of the translated lexicon was presented to the Cardinal by Archbishop Antonio Mennini, apostolic nuncio to Russia. The archbishop stated that Russia feels "very deeply the crisis of the family institution and of the urgent need to contribute to the rediscovery of the values of the person and the family." He stated that this work is "an instrument for reflection and an encouragement always to seek the truth about the human being, life and the family." The prelate noted that family and life issues involve the entire society, not just the Church.
Cardinal Antonelli affirmed that the Church offers this lexicon not to impose a particular viewpoint in the civil or political context, but rather to suggest a "reasonable reflection, to help to build a human civilization based on truth, on love and on respect for the person, for human life, and for the fundamental cell of society which is the family."