Pope urges Romanian, Moldavian bishops to renew Christian family

(February 12, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday urged the Church in Romania and Moldavia to combat the pitfalls of secularized tendencies in society through a moral and religious renewal of the Christian family. The Pope’s advice came in an address to the bishops from Romania and Moldavia who are on their 5-yearly so-called ‘ad limina’ visit to Rome, to report on the state of their dioceses. “The flowering of priestly and religious vocations depends in good measure on the moral and religious health of Christian families,” the Pope told the bishops who belong to the Latin and Oriental rites. “Unfortunately, in our time there are not a few pitfalls against the institution of the family in a secularized and disoriented society,” he noted. The Pope said that Catholic families in Romania and Moldavia that had witnessed to the Gospel under the Communist regime, sometimes at great cost, are not immune to the scourge of abortion, corruption, alcoholism and drugs, as well as birth control by methods contrary to the dignity of the human person. “To combat these challenges,” the Holy Father said, “we need to promote parish counsellors in order to provide adequate preparation for married and family life, and to better organize youth ministry. “Above all, there is need for a strong commitment for the presence of Christian values in society, by developing training centres where young people can learn true values…, so they can bear witness to them in the environments where they live,” the Pope added.