Vatican Conference on complementarity of Man and Woman ends

(Vatican Radio) The Humanum Conference ended on Wednesday with the publication of “A New Affirmation on Marriage.” The Conference, co-sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, took place in the Vatican, and explored the complementarity nature of the male and female in marriage. Pope Francis opened the conference on Monday.

“It is hard now to speak of such obvious and beautiful things, but they are there,” the statement reads.  “All the witnesses know it. It is the music of man and of woman. Man with woman brings out the finest in him, directing his blood and his mind toward what makes life possible; and woman with man brings out the finest in her, directing her love and her care toward what makes life sweet.”

The statement went on to discuss the problems facing marriage today.

“Today, however, the homes that marriage makes are exposed to an army of distractions, and to the thief and the enemy who comes to steal and destroy,” continues the statement. “Weddings are rarer and children fewer. Where poverty erodes, marriage feels out of reach. Where war afflicts, families are crushed. Anywhere marriage recedes, we lose the transcendent and material goods that all human beings should enjoy. And we too are at fault, for when marriages are exposed to the wind and the rain, we have paid little attention. When the needs of children succumb to the wishes of adults, we have often remained silent. Love is reduced to a consumer item, an airbrushed image, or a slogan to export. It will not work. We will not flourish.”

The full statement is at the Humanum website.