Pope Benedict XVI: Family in urgent need of support
On Sunday Pope Benedict XVI made a one day pastoral visit to a diocese that straddles
two states – Italy and the tiny landlocked Republic of San Marino. During his trip
to San Marino -Montefeltro, the Pope’s focus was on encouraging families and young
people through what he repeatedly described in his speeches as the current period
of crisis.
In fact, the day concluded with a prayer meeting with some 4 thousand
young people in the town of Pennabilli, on the eastern side of the Italian Apennines.
There, before the diocesan Cathedral, he told the youth that they are ‘the hope of
the region’.
Greeting the Pope, the Bishop of San Marino – Montefeltro, Msgr.
Luigi Negri spoke of how young people are the weakest link in the local Church and
society, of how they are victims of the manipulations of a ‘bad culture and bad teachers’
that dominated society and its institutions over the course of the last century.
Then one young man put a question to the Pope, asking him how young people today can
escape from the vicious circle of the pursuit of personal pleasure.
Pope Benedict
replied that only by opening up to the whole truth about ourselves and the world
do we see God's initiative toward us. He urged them not to be afraid to face difficult
situations, moments of crisis, life’s trials, but always to remember that the Lord
is with them. He said: “Human experience is a reality that binds us together, but
it can be given different levels of meaning. This is where you decide how to direct
your lives and choose who to entrust it to, who to entrust yourselves to”. Pope Benedict
appealed to the young people not to allow scientific data and technological tools
substitute the world of life and the richness of relationships of friendship and love.
He appealed to them to allow themselves to be illuminated by the mystery of Christ.
Earlier,
Pope Benedict had visited the Republic of San Marino which claims to be the oldest
surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world. Alongside Vatican
City State and the principality of Monaco, it is also one of Europe’s smallest states
covering just 61 square kilometres.
There, in the historic San Marino fortress
that rises from Mount Titan, Pope Benedict asked local authorities to give greater
support and recognition to families. He warned against attempts to undermine the fundamental
value of the institution of the family, which he says marginalise young generations
and society’s weakest. The family alone, he said, can nurture mature and responsible
people with deep and perennial values. The Holy Father also encouraged the San Marino
community in the current economic crisis, expressing his concern for those workers
who have seen their labour rights undermined by the precarious nature of today’s job
market. Listen to Emer McCarthy's report: