2010-04-23 14:19:14

Spain’s bishops view upcoming Pope’s visits and family situation


(April 23, 2010) The situation of family values is not improving in Spain, and instead, there is a "serious retreat toward the abyss of the culture of death," cautioned the president of Spain’s Catholic Church. Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, said this when he opened the plenary assembly of the Spanish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Among the other issues he addressed were Pope Benedict’s upcoming trips to Spain in August for World Youth Day and again in November, to Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela. In Barcelona, the Pope will consecrate the famous Holy Family church. The cardinal said this act will give the opportunity to "reflect on aspects of great relevance for our Church today." "From the point of view of the social doctrine of the Church," Cardinal Rouco Varela explained, "it evokes the need to continue proposing the natural and Christian concept of marriage and the family as the basis of just social coexistence…" The Spanish bishops’ president lamented that the situation of the family hasn’t improved in the country. Soon it would be 5 years since the new marriage law in the Civil Code has ceased to recognize and protect marriage in its own specificity inasmuch as an alliance of life between a man and a woman. Furthermore, a recently approved law on abortion has yet to come into force but in practice the life of the unborn is without legal protection, implying a very serious retreat toward the abyss of the culture of death, Cardinal Rouco Varela added.







All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.