Pope: Families, radiate the love of God

Up to a million people packed into Milan’s Park di Bresso for a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI, marking a fitting final day to the Holy Father’s visit for the World Meeting of Families.

The theme of this meeting was The Family: Work and Celebration and it was on this topic that the Pope addressed those who listened intently at the open air mass.

The Pope said it was important to strike the right balance between all these areas of life because it was essential “for building up a society with a human face".

During his Homily the Holy Father turned his attention to the sacrament of Marriage saying that a marriage between a man and a woman had “fruitful consequences for families.

Addressing married couples directly the Pope said that this sacred union was fruitful first and foremost for them, because he explained “you desire and accomplish one another's good, you experience the joy of receiving and giving." "It is also fruitful," he said, "in your generous and responsible procreation of children, in your attentive care for them, and in their vigilant and wise education. And lastly, it is fruitful for society, because family life is the first and irreplaceable school of social virtues, such as respect for persons, gratuitousness, trust, responsibility, solidarity, cooperation."

Pope Benedict also underlined the fact that being a family also meant "maintaining a constant relationship with God and participating in the life of the Church.

In his Homily, the Holy Father point to the consequences that modern economic theories can have on the family saying it `'creates ferocious competition, strong inequalities, degradation of the environment'' and reduces family relationships `'to fragile convergences of individual interests'' that undermine the social fabric. Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report