Pontifical Council for the Family concludes 20th Plenary Assembly

The Pontifical Council for the Family concluded its twentieth Plenary Assembly on Thursday with an Audience with Pope Benedict XVI. The assembly marked the 30^th Anniversary of the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris consortio, and of the creation of the Pontifical Council.

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston and a member of the Council spoke to Christopher Wells about the pastoral challenges facing the Church. “I think the challenge is transmitting the faith to a new generation of Catholics, so that they have a sense of vocation, particularly the vocation to marriage. And also that they have a sense of being called to be part of a mission, that is a communal mission in the Church, to work for the establishment of a civilisation of love, as the Holy Father often talks about.”

He said “In particular, in today’s world, the work of this Council takes on greater importance than ever. . . The work of the Council is of paramount importance for the life of the Church and so I’m very happy to be a part of this, and the struggles and the challenges are very great, but nothing can be more important than this work.”

Listen to the full interview of Cardinal Seán O’Malley: