Pope stresses on faith life in families, urges peace in Iraq, Holy Land

(July 6, 2006): Pope Benedict XVI hopes that the 5th World Meeting of the Families in Spain will lead to the transmission of faith to future generations. The Pope voiced his feelings on Sunday before reciting the midday Angelus prayer with the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square, just days before his July 8-9 trip to Valencia to close the world meeting. The theme of the Valencia event, which opened on Saturday, is "Family, Live and Transmit the Faith!" "In so many communities which today are secularized the first urgency for believers in Christ is, precisely, to renew the faith of adults so that they will be able to communicate it to new generations," the Pope said. For the transmission of faith to be authentic, the Pope said, it has to be preceded and accompanied "by the parents' commitment to further their own knowledge of the faith, rekindling the flame with prayer and the assiduous practice of the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist." The Pope urged prayers for all families, that they will live in accordance with their God-given vocation and benefit from just governmental policies which safeguard their fundamental role in society.
After the Angelus, the Pope urged for peace and justice in the Iraq and the Holy Land, where he said recent violence is becoming a "growing concern." Benedict XVI said: "In the face of the blind violence that causes atrocious killings, on one hand, and, on the other, the threat of the aggravation of the crisis which for the past few days has been even more tragic, justice is necessary and a serious and credible commitment to peace which, unfortunately, are not perceived. Pope Benedict invited all to join in confident and persevering prayer that the Lord may enlighten hearts and that no one exempt himself from the duty to build a peaceful coexistence, in recognition that each man is a brother, regardless of the nation to which he belongs."