Krakow, Poland, 14 September 2013: In contemporary culture ‘children are considered
an obstacle to individual happiness and personal development", while in the Bible
it is said: ‘It is not good that the man remains alone’. The contemporary culture
does not cease to declare in every situation: "It's good to be alone", said Archbishop
Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. He was speaking
at the 13th International Conference dedicated to ‘the Catholic Church's
role in the process of European integration’ with the theme "The family in contemporary
Europe” held in in an Krakow, Poland, on 13 and 14 September.
Despite the
cultural ‘hostility’, said the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family,
"the family remains in the first place in the list of the wishes of the people’. In
Italy, almost 80 percent of the young people of marriageable age say they prefer cohabitation
to marriage. In France, 77 percent of young people, mostly between 18 and 24 years
old , express a desire to form a family with the same person for a lifetime. In Poland,
85 percent of respondents in social surveys say they cannot imagine happiness without
the family. The dream of a family is linked to a vision of the future, explained Archbishop
Paglia. As John Paul II said, "the loss of Christian memory is accompanied by a kind
of fear of the future." As a result, family loses its attractiveness and value of
the testimony of the union of love until death.
Added to this is the weight
of the economic crisis and the difficulties that they face every day in families.
Policies are needed to support and protect the family as "the fundamental cell" and
"resource of the Society", as defined in various documents prepared by the Pontifical
Council for the Family, reminded the Archbishop. "The stability of family relationships
is a valuable asset, but when it is in trouble, all members of the family are at risk."
In particular, pointed out Archbishop Paglia, "harmonious growth of children and their
positive socialization is at risk."
From social studies, said the Archbishop,
it is clear that "divorce, as well as the birth outside of marriage, increases the
risk of poverty for children and women." And then, "the family experiences the natural
solidarity between generations more frequently and more deeply than other forms of
cohabitation. Children living with their natural parents live in a better mental well-being
and develop greater confidence and hope in life than children living in other contexts."
"Families
are an unparalleled resource for the world of work, more than that they derive benefits
from the world of work." The family is also " the primary source of social capital,
where the latter consists mainly of relationships of trust, cooperation and reciprocity,
that families build internally and externally." Above all, "the family is the primary
learning of love and gratitude, especially to the weakest members ." So, it is "the
first instrument of humanization of the people and social life", asserted Archbishop
Paglia. Source: VR Sedoc