Cardinal Onaiyekan on marriage and the family in Nigeria
(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Council for the Family has been holding its Plenary
Assembly in Rome. The event is being seen as timely given the fact that Pope Francis
recently convened an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops focusing on the pastoral challenges
of the family for next year. The Assembly has been looking at the theme “Family,
Live the Joy of Faith” It also held a Congress this week to mark the 30th
Anniversary of the Charter on the rights of the Family.One of the participants at
the Assembly and Friday’s audience was the Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyeken. Lydia
O’Kane asked him about the challenges facing marriage and the family in his own country.
He says, “the major problem of the family is how do families maintain themselves if
there is massive poverty around, when young people cannot marry not because they do
not want to marry, but because they have not got any job and they are waiting for
when they can get a good job so they can marry.” The Cardinal also point out that
the upcoming Synod in 2014 was the best opportunity to have an overall view of the
situation regarding the family in the world. The Plenary Assembly concludes Friday
25th October. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Cardinal John Onaiyeken