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FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO
On the Christian Family in the Modern World
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II ON THE FAMILY TO THE
EPISCOPATE, TO THE CLERGY, AND TO THE FAITHFUL
OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC CHURCH
INTRODUCTION
1. The family in the modern world, as much as and perhaps more than any other
institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have
affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in
fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of
the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even
doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and
family life. Finally, there are others who are hindered by various situations of
injustice in the realization of their fundamental rights.
Knowing that marriage and the family constitute one of the most precious of
human values, the church wishes to speak and offer her help to those who are
already aware of the value of marriage and the family and seek to live it
faithfully, to those who are uncertain and anxious and searching for the truth,
and to those who are unjustly impeded from living freely their family lives.
Supporting the first, illuminating the second and assisting the others, the
church offers her services to every person who wonders about the destiny of
marriage and the family.[1]
In a particular way the church addresses the young, who are beginning their
journey toward marriage and family life, for the purpose of presenting them with
new horizons, helping them to discover the beauty and grandeur of the vocation
to love and the service of life.
2. A sign of this profound interest of the church in the family was the last
Synod of Bishops, held in Rome from Sept. 26 to Oct. 25, 1980. This was a
natural continuation of the two preceding synods:[2] The Christian family, in
fact, is the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person
during growth and to bring him or her, through a progressive education and
catechesis, to full human and Christian maturity.
Furthermore, the recent synod is logically connected in some way as well with
that on the ministerial priesthood and on justice in the modern world. In fact,
as an educating community, the family must help man to discern his own vocation
and to accept responsibility in the search for greater justice, educating him
from the beginning in interpersonal relationships, rich in justice and in love.
At the close of their assembly, the synod fathers presented me with a long list
of proposals in which they had gathered the fruits of their reflections, which
had matured over intense days of work, and they asked me unanimously to be a
spokesman before humanity of the church's lively care for the family and to give
suitable indications for renewed pastoral effort in this fundamental sector of
the life of man and of the church.
As I fulfill that mission with this exhortation, thus actuating in a particular
matter the apostolic ministry with which I am entrusted, I wish to thank all the
members of the synod for the very valuable contribution of teaching and
experience that they made, especially through the propositiones, the text of
which I am entrusting to the Pontifical Council for the Family with instructions
to study it so as to bring out every aspect of its rich content.
3. Illuminated by the faith that gives her an understanding of all the truth
concerning the great value of marriage and the family and their deepest meaning,
the church once again feels the pressing need to proclaim the Gospel, that is
the "good news," to all people without exception, in particular to all those who
are called to marriage and are preparing for it, to all married couples and
parents in the world.
The church is deeply convinced that only by the acceptance of the Gospel are the
hopes that man legitimately places in marriage and in the family capable of
being fulfilled.
Willed by God in the very act of creation,[3] marriage and the family are
interiorly ordained to fulfillment in Christ[4] and have need of his graces in
order to be healed from the wounds of sin[5] and restored to their
"beginning,"[6] that is, to full understanding and the full realization of God's
plan.
At a moment of history in which the family is the object of numerous forces that
seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it, and aware that the well-being of
society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family,[7] the
church perceives in a more urgent and compelling way her mission of proclaiming
to all people the plan of God for marriage and the family, ensuring their full
vitality and human and Christian development, and thus contributing to the
renewal of society and of the people of God.
4. Since God's plan for marriage and the family touches men and women in the
concreteness of their daily existence in specific social and cultural
situations, the church ought to apply herself to understanding the situations
within which marriage and the family are lived today, in order to fulfill her
task of serving.[8]
This understanding is therefore an inescapable requirement of the work of
evangelization. It is, in fact, to the families of our times that the church
must bring the unchangeable and ever new gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it is
the families involved in the present conditions of the world that are called to
accept and to live the plan of God that pertains to them. Moreover, the call and
demands of the spirit resound in the very events of history, and so the church
can also be guided to a more profound understanding of the inexhaustible mystery
of marriage and the family by the circumstances, the questions and the anxieties
and hopes of the young people, married couples and parents of today.[9]
To this ought to be added a further reflection of particular importance at the
present time. Not infrequently ideas and solutions which are very appealing, but
which obscure in varying degrees the truth and the dignity of the human person,
are offered to the men and women of today in their sincere and deep search for a
response to the important daily problems that affect their married and family
life. These views are often supported by the powerful and pervasive organization
of the means of social communication, which subtly endangers freedom and the
capacity for objective judgment.
Many are already aware of this danger to the human person and are working for
the truth. The church, with her evangelical discernment, joins with them,
offering her own service to the truth, to freedom and to the dignity of every
man and every woman.
5. The discernment effected by the church becomes the offering of an orientation
in order that the entire truth and the full dignity of marriage and the family
may be preserved and realized.
This discernment is accomplished through the sense of faith,[10] which is a gift
that the Spirit gives to all the faithful,[11] and is therefore the work of the
whole church according to the diversity of the various gifts and charisms that,
together with and according to the responsibility proper to each one, work
together for a more profound understanding and activation of the word of God.
The church, therefore, does not accomplish this discernment only through the
pastors, who teach in the name and with the power of Christ, but also through
the laity: Christ "made them his witnesses and gave them understanding of the
faith and the grace of speech (cf. Acts 2:17-18; Rv. 19:10), so that the power
of the Gospel might shine forth in their daily social and family life."[12] The
laity, moreover, by reason of their particular vocation have the specific role
of interpreting the history of the world in the light of Christ, inasmuch as
they are called to illuminate and organize temporal realities according to the
plan of God, creator and redeemer.
The "supernatural sense of faith,"[13] however, does not consist solely or
necessarily in the consensus of the faithful. Following Christ, the church seeks
the truth, which is not always the same as the majority opinion. She listens to
conscience and not to power, and in this way she defends the poor and the
downtrodden. The church values sociological and statistical research when it
proves helpful in understanding the historical context in which pastoral action
has to be developed and when it leads to a better understanding of the truth.
Such research alone, however, is not to be considered in itself an expression of
the sense of faith.
Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the church
remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth,
the pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and
authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the
faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment.[14]
Christian spouses and parents can and should offer their unique and
irreplaceable contribution to the elaboration of an authentic evangelical
discernment in the various situations and cultures in which men and women live
their marriage and their family life. They are qualified for this role by their
charism or specific gift, the gift of the sacrament of matrimony.[15]
6. The situation in which the family finds itself presents positive and negative
aspects: The first is a sign of the salvation of Christ operating in the world;
the second, a sign of the refusal that man gives to the love of God.
On the one hand, in fact, there is a more lively awareness of personal freedom
and greater attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships in marriage,
in promoting the dignity of women, to responsible procreation, to the education
of children. There is also an awareness of the need for the development of
interfamily relationships, for reciprocal spiritual and material assistance, the
rediscovery of the ecclesial mission proper to the family and its responsibility
for the building of a more just society. On the other hand, however, signs are
not lacking of a disturbing degradation of some fundamental values: a mistaken
theoretical and practical concept of the independence of the spouses in relation
to each other; serious misconceptions regarding the relationship of authority
between parents and children; the concrete difficulties that the family itself
experiences in the transmission of values; the growing number of divorces; the
scourge of abortion; the ever more frequent recourse to sterilization; the
appearance of a truly contraceptive mentality.
At the root of these negative phenomena there frequently lies a corruption of
the idea and the experience of freedom, conceived not as a capacity for
realizing the truth of God's plan for marriage and the family, but as an
autonomous power of self-affirmation, often against others, for one's own
selfish well-being.
Worthy of our attention also is the fact that in the countries of the so-called
Third World, families often lack both the means necessary for survival, such as
food, work, housing and medicine, and the most elementary freedoms. In the
richer countries, on the contrary, excessive prosperity and the consumer
mentality, paradoxically joined to a certain anguish and uncertainty about the
future, deprive married couples of the generosity and courage needed for raising
up new human life: Thus life is often perceived not as a blessing, but as a
danger from which to defend oneself.
The historical situation in which the family lives therefore appears as an
interplay of light and darkness.
This shows that history is not simply a fixed progression toward what is better,
but rather an event of freedom, and even a struggle between freedoms that are in
mutual conflict, that is, according to the wellknown expression of St.
Augustine, a conflict between two loves: the love of God to the point of
disregarding self, and the love of self to the point of disregarding God.[16]
It follows that only an education for love rooted in faith can lead to the
capacity of interpreting "the signs of the times," which are the historical
expression of this twofold love.
7. Living in such a world, under the pressures coming above all from the mass
media, the faithful do not always remain immune from the obscuring of certain
fundamental values, nor set themselves up as the critical conscience of family
culture and as active agents in the building of an authentic family humanism.
Among the more troubling signs of this phenomenon, the synod fathers stressed
the following, in particular: the spread of divorce and of recourse to a new
union, even on the part of the faithful; the acceptance of purely civil marriage
in contradiction to the vocation of the baptized to "be married in the Lord";
the celebration of the marriage sacrament without living faith, but for other
motives; the rejection of the moral norms that guide and promote the human and
Christian exercise of sexuality in marriage.
8. The whole church is obliged to a deep reflection and commitment, so that the
new culture now emerging may be evangelized in depth, true values acknowledged,
the rights of men and women defended and justice promoted in the very structures
of society. In this way the "new humanism" will not distract people from their
relationship with God, but will lead them to it more fully.
Science and its technical applications offer new and immense possibilities in
the construction of such a humanism. Still, as a consequence of political
choices that decide the direction of research and its applications, science is
often used against its original purpose, which is the advancement of the human
person.
It becomes necessary, therefore, on the part of all to recover an awareness of
the primacy of moral values, which are the values of the human person as such.
The great task that has to be faced today for the renewal of society is that of
recapturing the ultimate meaning of life and its fundamental values. Only an
awareness of the primacy of these values enables man to use the immense
possibilities given him by science.in such a way as to bring about the true
advancement of the human person in his or her whole truth, in his or her freedom
and dignity. Science is called to ally itself with wisdom.
The following words of the Second Vatican Council can therefore be applied to
the problems of the family: "Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if
the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the
world stands in peril unless wiser people are forthcoming."[17]
The education of the moral conscience, which makes every human being capable of
judging and of discerning the proper ways to achieve self-realization according
to his or her original truth, thus becomes a pressing requirement that cannot be
renounced.
Modern culture must be led to a more profoundly restored covenant with divine
wisdom. Every man is given a share of such wisdom through the creating action of
God. And it is only in faithfulness to this covenant that the families of today
will be in a position to influence positively the building of a more just and
fraternal world.
9. To the injustice originating from sin--which has profoundly penetrated the
structures of today's world--and often hindering the family's full realization
of itself and of its fundamental rights, we must all set ourselves in opposition
through a conversion of mind and heart, following Christ crucified by denying
our own selfishness: Such a conversion cannot fail to have a beneficial and
renewing influence even on the structures of society.
What is needed is a continuous, permanent conversion which, while requiring an
interior detachment from every evil and an adherence to good in its fullness, is
brought about concretely in steps which lead us ever forward. Thus a dynamic
process develops, one which advances gradually with the progressive integration
of the gifts of God and the demands of his definitive and absolute love in the
entire personal and social life of man. Therefore an educational growth process
is necessary in order that individual believers, families and peoples, even
civilization itself, by beginning from what they have already received of the
mystery of Christ, may patiently be led forward, arriving at a richer
understanding and a fuller integration of this mystery in their lives.
10. In conformity with her constant tradition, the church receives from the
various cultures everything that is able to express better the unsearchable
riches of Christ.[18] Only with the help of all the cultures will it be possible
for these riches to be manifested ever more clearly and for the church to
progress toward a daily, more complete and profound awareness of the truth,
which has already been given to her in its entirety by the Lord.
Holding fast to the two principles of the compatibility with the Gospel of the
various cultures to be taken up and of communion with the universal church,
there must be further study, particularly by the episcopal conferences and the
appropriate departments of the Roman Curia, and greater pastoral diligence so
that this "inculturation" of the Christian faith may come about ever more
extensively in the context of marriage and the family as well as in other
fields.
It is by means of "inculturation" that one proceeds toward the full restoration
of the covenant with the wisdom of God, which is Christ himself. The whole
church will be enriched also by the cultures which, though lacking technology,
abound in human wisdom and are enlivened by profound moral values.
So that the goal of this journey might be clear and consequently the way plainly
indicated, the synod was right to begin by considering in depth the original
design of God for marriage and the family: It "went back to the beginning," in
deference to the teaching of Christ.[19]
11. God created man in his own image and likeness:[20] calling him to existence
through love, he called him at the same time for love.
God is love[21] and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion.
Creating the human race in his own image and continually keeping it in being.
God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the
capacity and responsibility, of love and communion[22]. Love is therefore the
fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.
As an incarnate spirit, that is, a soul which expresses itself in a body and a
body informed by an immortal spirit, man is called to love in his unified
totality. Love includes the human body, and the body is made a sharer in
spiritual love.
Christian revelation recognizes two specific ways of realizing the vocation of
the human person, in its entirety, to love: marriage and virginity or celibacy.
Either one is in its own proper form an actuation of the most profound truth of
man, of his being "created in the image of God."
Consequently sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one
another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is by no
means something purely biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human
person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral
part of the love by which a man and a woman commit themselves totally to one
another until death. The total physical self-giving would be a lie if it were
not the sign and fruit of a total personal self-giving, in which the whole
person, including the temporal dimension, is present: If the person were to
withhold something or reserve the possibility of deciding otherwise in the
future, by this very fact he or she would not be giving totally.
This totality which is required by conjugal love also corresponds to the demands
of responsible fertility. This fertility is directed to the generation of a
human being, and so by its nature it surpasses the purely biological order and
involves a whole series of personal values. For the harmonious growth of these
values a persevering and unified contribution by both parents is necessary.
The only "place" in which this self-giving in its whole truth is made possible
is marriage, the covenant of conjugal love freely and consciously chosen,
whereby man and woman accept the intimate community of life and love willed by
God himself,[23] which only in this light manifests its true meaning. The
institution of marriage is not an undue interference by society or authority,
nor the extrinsic imposition of a form. Rather, it is an interior requirement of
the covenant of conjugal love which is publicly affirmed as unique and exclusive
in order to live in complete fidelity to the plan of God, the creator. A
person's freedom, far from being restricted by this fidelity, is secured against
every form of subjectivism or relativism and is made a sharer in creative
wisdom.
12. The communion of love between God and people, a fundamental part of the
revelation and faith experience of Israel, finds a meaningful expression in the
marriage covenant which is established between a man and a woman.
For this reason the central word of revelation, "God loves his people," is
likewise proclaimed through the living and concrete word whereby a man and a
woman express their conjugal love. Their bond of love becomes the image and the
symbol of the covenant which unites god and his people.[24] And the same sin
which can harm the conjugal covenant becomes an image of the infidelity of the
people to their God: Idolatry is prostitution,[25] infidelity is adultery,
disobedience to the law is abandonment of the spousal love of the Lord. But the
infidelity of Israel does not destroy the eternal fidelity of the Lord, and
therefore the ever faithful love of God is put forward as the model of the
relations of faithful love which should exist between spouses.[26]
13. The communion between God and his people finds its definitive fulfillment in
Jesus Christ, the bridegroom who loves and gives himself as the savior of
humanity, uniting it to himself as his body.
He reveals the original truth of marriage, the truth of the "beginning,"[27]
and, freeing man from his hardness of heart, he makes man capable of realizing
this truth in its entirety.
This revelation reaches its definitive fullness in the gift of love which the
word of God makes to humanity in assuming a human nature, and in the sacrifice
which Jesus Christ makes of himself on the cross for his bride, the church. In
this sacrifice there is entirely revealed that plan which God has imprinted on
the humanity of man and woman since their creation,[28] the marriage of baptized
persons thus becomes a real symbol of that new and eternal covenant sanctioned
in the blood of Christ. The Spirit which the Lord pours forth gives a new heart,
and renders man and woman capable of loving one another as Christ has loved us.
Conjugal love reaches that fullness to which it is interiorly ordained, conjugal
charity, which is the proper and specific way in which the spouses participate
in and are called to live the very charity of Christ, who gave himself on the
cross.
In a deservedly famous page, Tertullian has well expressed the greatness of this
conjugal life in Christ and its beauty: "How can I ever express the happiness of
the marriage that is joined together by the church, strengthened by an offering,
sealed by a blessing, announced by angels and ratified by the Father?!!! How
wonderful the bond between two believers, with a single hope, a single desire, a
single observance, a single service! They are both brethren and both fellow
servants; there is no separation between them in spirit or flesh. In fact they
are truly two in one flesh, and where the flesh is one, one is the spirit."[29]
Receiving and meditating faithfully on the word of God, the church has solemnly
taught and continued to teach that the marriage of the baptized is one of the
seven sacraments of the new covenant.[30]
Indeed by means of baptism, man and woman are definitively placed within the new
and eternal covenant, in the spousal covenant of Christ with the church. And it
is because of this indestructible insertion that the intimate community of
conjugal life and love, founded by the creator,[31] is elevated and assumed into
the spousal charity of Christ, sustained and enriched by his redeeming power.
By virtue of the sacramentality of their marriage, spouses are bound to one
another in the most profoundly indissoluble manner. Their belonging to each
other is the real representation, by means of the sacramental sign, of the very
relationship of Christ with the church.
Spouses are therefore the permanent reminder to the church of what happened on
the cross; they are for one another and for the children witnesses to the
salvation in which the sacrament makes them sharers. Of this salvation event
marriage, like every sacrament, is a memorial, actuation and prophecy: "As a
memorial, the sacrament gives them the grace and duty of commemorating the great
works of God and of bearing witness to them before their children. As actuation,
it gives them the grace and duty of putting into practice in the present, toward
each other and their children, the demands of a love which forgives and redeems.
As prophecy, it gives them the grace and duty of living and bearing witness to
the hope of the future encounter with Christ."[32]
Like each of the seven sacraments, so also marriage is a real symbol of the
event of salvation, but in its own way.
"The spouses participate in it as spouses, together, as a couple, so that the
first and immediate effect of marriage (res et sacramentum) is not supernatural
grace itself, but the Christian conjugal bond, a typically Christian communion
of two persons because it represents the mystery of Christ's incarnation and the
mystery of his covenant. The content of participation in Christ's life is also
specific: Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the
person enter--appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity,
aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply personal unity, the
unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it
demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is
open to fertility (cf. Humanae Vitae, 9). In a word, it is a question of the
normal characteristics of all natural conjugal love, but with a new significance
which not only purifies and strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of
making them the expression of specifically Christian values."[33]
14. According to the plan of God, marriage is the foundation of the wider
community of the family, since the very institution of marriage and conjugal
love is ordained to the procreation and education of children, in whom it finds
its crowning.[34]
In its most profound reality, love is essentially a gift; and conjugal love,
while leading the spouses to the reciprocal "knowledge" which makes them "one
flesh,"[35] does not end with the couple, because it makes them capable of the
greatest possible gift, the gift by which they become cooperators with God for
giving life to a new human person. Thus the couple, while giving themselves to
one another, give not just themselves but also the reality of children, who are
a living reflection of their love, a permanent sign of conjugal unity and a
living and inseparable synthesis of their being a father and a mother.
When they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new
responsibility. Their parental love is called to become for the children the
visible sign of the very love of God, "from whom every family in heaven and on
earth is named."[36]
It must not be forgotten however that, even when procreation is not possible,
conjugal life does not for this reason lose its value. Physical sterility in
fact, can be for spouses the occasion for other important services to the life
of the human person, for example, adoption, various forms of educational work,
and assistance to other families and to poor or handicapped children.
15. In matrimony and in the family a complex of interpersonal relationships is
set up--married life, fatherhood and motherhood, filiation and
fraternity--through which each human person is introduced into the "human
family" and into the "family of God," which is the church.
Christian marriage and the Christian family build up the church: for in the
family the human person is not only brought into being and progressively
introduced by means of education into the human community, but by means of the
rebirth of baptism and education in the faith the child is also introduced into
God's family, which is the church.
The human family, disunited by sin, is reconstituted in its unity by the
redemptive power of the death and resurrection of Christ.[37] Christian
marriage, by participating in the salvific efficacy of this event, constitutes
the natural setting in which the human person is introduced into the great
family of the church.
The commandment to grow and multiply, given to man and woman in the beginning,
in this way reaches its whole truth and full realization.
The church thus finds in the family, born from the sacrament, the cradle and the
setting in which she can enter the human generations and where these in their
turn can enter the church.
16. Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of God not only does not
contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes it and confirms it. Marriage
and virginity or celibacy are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery
of the covenant of God with his people.
When marriage is not esteemed, neither can consecrated virginity or celibacy
exist; when human sexuality is not regarded as a great value given by the
creator, the renunciation of it for the sake of the kingdom of heaven loses its
meaning.
Rightly indeed does St. John Chrysostom say: "Whoever denigrates marriage also
diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity more
admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil would
not be particularly good. It is something better than what is admitted to be
good that is the most excellent good."[38]
In virginity or celibacy, the human being is awaiting, also in a bodily way, the
eschatological marriage of Christ with the church, giving himself or herself
completely to the church in the hope that Christ may give himself to the church
in the full truth of eternal life. The celibate person thus anticipates in his
or her flesh the new world of the future resurrection.[39]
By virtue of this witness, virginity or celibacy keeps alive in the church a
consciousness of the mystery of marriage and defends it from any reduction and
impoverishment.
Virginity or celibacy, by liberating the human heart in a unique way,[40] "so as
to make it burn with greater love for God and all humanity,"[41] bears witness
that the kingdom of God and his justice is that pearl of great price which is
preferred to every other value no matter how great, and hence must be sought as
the only definitive value. It is for this reason that the church throughout her
history has always defended the superiority of this charism to that of marriage,
by reason of the wholly singular link which it has with the kingdom of God.[42]
In spite of having renounced physical fecundity, the celibate person becomes
spiritually fruitful, the father and mother of many, cooperating in the
realization of the family according to God's plan.
Christian couples therefore have the right to expect from celibate persons a
good example and a witness of fidelity to their vocation until death. Just as
fidelity at times becomes difficult for married people and requires sacrifice,
mortification and self-denial, the same can happen to celibate persons, and
their fidelity, even in the trials that may occur, should strengthen the
fidelity of married couples.[43]
These reflections on virginity or celibacy can enlighten and help those who, for
reasons independent of their own will, have been unable to marry and have then
accepted their situation in a spirit of service.
17. The family finds in the plan of God the creator and redeemer not only its
identity, what it is, but also its mission, what it can and should do. The role
that God calls the family to perform in history derives from what the family is;
its role represents the dynamic and existential development of what it is. Each
family finds within itself a summons that cannot be ignored and that specifies
both its dignity and its responsibility: Family, become what you are.
Accordingly, the family must go back to the "beginning" of God's creative act if
it is to attain self-knowledge and self-realization in accordance with the inner
truth not only of what it is, but also of what it does in history. And since in
God's plan it has been established as an "intimate community of life and
love,"[44] the family has the mission to become more and more what it is, that
is to say, a community of life and love in an effort that will find fulfillment,
as will everything created and redeemed, in the kingdom of God. Looking at it in
such a way as to reach its very roots, we must say that the essence and role of
the family are in the final analysis specified by love. Hence the family has the
mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection
of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord
for the church, his bride.
Every particular task of the family is an expression and concrete actuation of
that fundamental mission. We must therefore go deeper into the unique riches of
the family's mission and probe its contents, which are both manifold and
unified.
Thus, with love as its point of departure and making constant reference to it,
the recent synod emphasized four general tasks for the family:
I. Forming a community of persons;
II. Serving life;
III. Participating in the development of society;
IV. Sharing in the life and mission of the church.
I. FORMING A COMMUNITY OF PERSONS
18. The family, which is founded and given life by love, is a community of
persons: of husband and wife, of parents and children, of relatives. Its first
task is to live with fidelity the reality of communion in a constant effort to
develop an authentic community of persons.
The inner principle of that task, its permanent power and its final goal, is
love: Without love the family is not a community of persons and, in the same
way, without love the family cannot live, grow and perfect itself as a community
of persons. What I wrote in the encyclical Redemptor Hominis applies primarily
and especially within the family as such: "Man cannot live without love. He
remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if
love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not
experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in
it."[45]
The love between husband and wife and, in a derivatory and broader way, the love
between members of the same family--between parents and children, brothers and
sisters and relatives and members of the household--is given life and sustenance
by an unceasing inner dynamism leading the family to ever deeper and more
intense communion, which is the foundation and soul of the community of marriage
and the family.
19. The first communion is the one which is established and which develops
between husband and wife: By virtue of the covenant of married life, the man and
woman "are no longer two but one flesh" 46 and they are called to grow
continually in their communion through day-today fidelity to their marriage
promise of total mutual self-giving.
This conjugal communion sinks its roots in the natural complementarity that
exists between man and woman and is nurtured through the personal willingness of
the spouses to share their entire life project, what they have and what they
are: For this reason such communion is the fruit and the sign of a profoundly
human need. But in the Lord Christ God takes up this human need, confirms it,
purifies it and elevates it, leading it to perfection through the sacrament of
matrimony: the Holy Spirit who is poured out in the sacramental celebration
offers Christian couples the gift of a new communion of love that is the living
and real image of that unique unity which makes of the church the indivisible
mystical body of the Lord Jesus.
The gift of the spirit is a commandment of life for Christian spouses and at the
same time a stimulating impulse so that every day they may progress toward an
ever richer union with each other on all levels--of the body, of the character,
of the heart, of the intelligence and will, of the soul[47] --revealing in this
way to the church and to the world the new communion of love, given by the grace
of Christ.
Such a communion is radically contradicted by polygamy: This, in fact, directly
negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because it is
contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women, who in matrimony give
themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive. As the
Second Vatican Council writes: "Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of
marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of husband and wife, a
dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love."[48]
20. Conjugal communion is characterized not only by its unity, but also by its
indissolubility: "As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union, as well
as the good of children, imposes total fidelity on the spouses and argues for an
unbreakable oneness between them."[49]
It is a fundamental duty of the church to reaffirm strongly, as the synod
fathers did, the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage. To all those who
in our times consider it too difficult or indeed impossible to be bound to one
person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture that rejects
the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to
fidelity, it is necessary to reconfirm the good news of the definitive nature of
that conjugal love that has in Christ its foundation and strength.[50]
Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple and being
required by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its
ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in his revelation: He wills
and he communicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a
requirement of the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the
Lord Jesus has for the church.
Christ renews the first plan that the creator inscribed in the hearts of man and
woman, and in the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony offers "a new
heart": thus the couples are not only able to overcome "hardness of heart,"[51]
but also, and above all, they are able to share the full and definitive love of
Christ, the new and eternal covenant made flesh. Just as the Lord Jesus is the
"faithful witness,"[52] the "yes" of the promises of God[53] and thus the
supreme realization of the unconditional faithfulness with which God loves his
people, so Christian couples are called to participate truly in the irrevocable
indissolubility that binds Christ to the church, his bride, loved by him to the
end.[54]
The gift of the sacrament is at the same time a vocation and commandment for the
Christian spouses, that they may remain faithful to each other forever, beyond
every trial and difficulty, in generous obedience to the holy will of the Lord:
"What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."[55]
To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of
marriage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples
in our time. So, with all my brothers who participated in the Synod of Bishops,
I praise and encourage those numerous couples who, though encountering no small
difficulty, preserve and develop the value of indissolubility: Thus in a humble
and courageous manner they perform the role committed to them of being in the
world a "sign"--a small and precious sign, sometimes also subjected to
temptation, but always renewed--of the unfailing fidelity with which God and
Jesus Christ love each and every human being. But it is also proper to recognize
the value of the witness of those spouses who, even when abandoned by their
partner, with the strength of faith and of Christian hope have not entered a new
union: These spouses too give an authentic witness to fidelity, of which the
world today has a great need. For this reason they must be encouraged and helped
by the pastors and the faithful of the church.
21. Conjugal communion constitutes the foundation on which is built the broader
communion of the family, of parents and children, of brothers and sisters with
each other, of relatives and other members of the household.
This communion is rooted in the natural bonds of flesh and blood and grows to
its specifically human perfection with the establishment and maturing of the
still deeper and richer bonds of the spirit: The love that animates the
interpersonal relationships of the different members of the family constitutes
the interior strength that shapes and animates the family communion and
community.
The Christian family is also called to experience a new and original communion
which confirms and perfects natural and human communion. In fact the grace of
Jesus Christ, "the firstborn among many brethren,"[56] is by its nature and
interior dynamism "a grace of brotherhood," as St. Thomas Aquinas calls it.[57]
The Holy Spirit, who is poured forth in the celebration of the sacraments, is
the living source and inexhaustible sustenance of the supernatural communion
that gathers believers and links them with Christ and with each other in the
unity of the church of God. The Christian family constitutes a specific
revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason too it
can and should be called "the domestic church."[58]
All members of the family, each according to his or her own gift, have the grace
and responsibility of building day by day the communion of persons, making the
family "a school of deeper humanity":[59] This happens where there is care and
love for the little ones, the sick, the aged; where there is mutual service
every day; when there is a sharing of goods, of joys and of sorrows.
A fundamental opportunity for building such a communion is constituted by the
educational exchange between parents and children,[60] in which each gives and
receives. By means of love, respect and obedience toward their parents, children
offer their specific and irreplaceable contribution to the construction of an
authentically human and Christian family.[61] They will be aided in this if
parents exercise their unrenounceable authority as a true and proper "ministry,"
that is, as a service to the human and Christian well-being of their children
and in particular as a service aimed at helping them acquire a truly responsible
freedom, and if parents maintain a living awareness of the "gift" they
continually receive from their children.
Family communion can only be preserved and perfected through a great spirit of
sacrifice. It requires, in fact, a ready and generous openness of each and all
to understanding, to forbearance, to pardon, to reconciliation. There is no
family that does not know how selfishness, discord, tension and conflict
violently attack and at times mortally wound its own communion: Hence there
arise the many and varied forms of division in family life. But, at the same
time, every family is called by the God of peace to have the joyous and renewing
experience of "reconciliation," that is, communion re-established, unity
restored. In particular, participation in the sacrament of reconciliation and in
the banquet of the one body of Christ offers to the Christian family the grace
and the responsibility of overcoming every division and of moving toward the
fullness of communion willed by God, responding in this way to the ardent desire
of the Lord: "that they may be one."[62]
22. In that it is, and ought always to become, a communion and community of
persons, the family finds in love the source and the constant impetus for
welcoming, respecting and promoting each one of its members in his or her lofty
dignity as a person, that is, as a living image of God. As the synod fathers
rightly stated, the moral criterion for the authenticity of conjugal and family
relationships consists in fostering the dignity and vocation of the individual
persons, who achieve their fullness by sincere self-giving.[63]
In this perspective the synod devoted special attention to women, to their
rights and role within the family and society. In the same perspective are also
to be considered men as husbands and fathers, and likewise children and the
elderly.
Above all it is important to underline the equal dignity and responsibility of
women with men. This equality is realized in a unique manner in that reciprocal
self-giving by each one to the other and by both to the children which is proper
to marriage and the family. What human reason intuitively perceives and
acknowledges is fully revealed by the word of God: The history of salvation, in
fact, is a continuous and luminous testimony to the dignity of women.
In creating the human race "male and female,"[64] God gives man and woman an
equal personal dignity, endowing them with the inalienable rights and
responsibilities proper to the human person. God then manifests the dignity of
women in the highest form possible, by assuming human flesh from the Virgin
Mary, whom the church honors as the mother of God, calling her the new Eve and
presenting her as the model of redeemed woman. The sensitive respect of Jesus
toward the women that he called to his following and his friendship, his
appearing on Easter morning to a woman before the other disciples, the mission
entrusted to women to carry the good news of the resurrection to the
apostles--these are all signs that confirm the special esteem of the Lord Jesus
for women. The apostle Paul will say: "In Christ Jesus you are all children of
God through faith . . . There is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."[65]
23. Without intending to deal with all the various aspects of the vast and
complex theme of the relationships between women and society and limiting these
remarks to a few essential points, one cannot but observe that in the specific
area of family life a widespread social and cultural tradition has considered
women's role to be exclusively that of wife and mother, without adequate access
to public functions, which have generally been reserved for men.
There is no doubt that the equal dignity and responsibility of men and women
fully justifies women's access to public functions. On the other hand the true
advancement of women requires that clear recognition be given to the value of
their maternal and family role, by comparison with all other public roles and
all other professions. Furthermore, these roles and professions should be
harmoniously combined if we wish the evolution of society and culture to be
truly and fully human.
This will come about more easily if, in accordance with the wishes expressed by
the synod, a renewed "theology of work" can shed light upon and study in depth
the meaning of work in the Christian life and determine the fundamental bond
between work and the family, and therefore the original and irreplaceable
meaning of work in the home be recognized and respected by all in its
irreplaceable value.[66]
This is of particular importance in education: For possible discrimination
between the different types of work and professions is eliminated at its very
root once it is clear that all people in every area are working with equal
rights and equal responsibilities. The image of God in man and in woman will
thus be seen with added luster.
While it must be recognized that women have the same right as men to perform
various public functions, society must be structured in such a way that wives
and mothers are not in practice compelled to work outside the home, and that
their families can live and prosper in a dignified way even when they themselves
devote their full time to their own family.
Furthermore, the mentality which honors women more for their work outside the
home than for their work within the family must be overcome. This requires that
men should truly esteem and love women with total respect for their personal
dignity, and that society should create and develop conditions favoring work in
the home.
With due respect to the different vocations of men and women, the church must in
her own life promote as far as possible their equality of rights and dignity:
and this for the good of all, the family, the church and society.
But clearly all of this does not mean for women a renunciation of their
femininity or an imitation of the male role, but the fullness of true feminine
humanity which should be expressed in their activity, whether in the family or
outside of it, without disregarding the differences of customs and cultures in
this sphere.
24. Unfortunately the Christian message about the dignity of women is
contradicted by that persistent mentality which considers the human being not as
a person but as a thing, as an object of trade, at the service of selfish
interest and mere pleasure: The first victims of this mentality are women.
This mentality produces very bitter fruits, such as contempt for men and for
women, slavery, oppression of the weak, pornography, prostitution--especially in
an organized form--and all those various forms of discrimination that exist in
the fields of education, employment, wages, etc.
Besides, many forms of degrading discrimination still persist today in a great
part of our society that affect and seriously harm particular categories of
women, as for example childless wives, widows, separated or divorced women, and
unmarried mothers.
The synod fathers deplored these and other forms of discrimination as strongly
as possible. I therefore ask that vigorous and incisive pastoral action be taken
by all to overcome them definitively so that the image of God that shines in all
human beings without exception may be fully respected.
25. Within the conjugal and family communion-community, the man is called upon
to live his gift and role as husband and father.
In his wife he sees the fulfillment of God's intention: "It is not good that the
man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him,"[67] and he makes his
own the cry of Adam, the first husband: "This at last is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh."[68]
Authentic conjugal love presupposes and requires that a man have a profound
respect for the equal dignity of his wife: "You are not her master," writes St.
Ambrose, "but her husband; she was not given to you to be your slave, but your
wife.... Reciprocate her attentiveness to you and be grateful to her for her
love."[69] With his wife a man should live "a very special form of personal
friendship."[70] As for the Christian, he is called upon to develop a new
attitude of love, manifesting toward his wife a charity that is both gentle and
strong like that which Christ has for the church.[71]
Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children
themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his
own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily
encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less
involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the
conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of
unique and irreplaceable importance.[72] As experience teaches, the absence of a
father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in
family relationships, as does, in contrary circumstances, the oppressive
presence of a father, especially where there still prevails the phenomenon of
"machismo," or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives which humiliates women
and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships.
In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God,[73] a man is
called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members
of the family: He will perform this task by exercising generous responsibility
for the life conceived under the heart of the mother, by a more solicitous
commitment to education, a task he shares with his wife,[74] by work which is
never a cause of division in the family but promotes its unity and stability,
and by means of the witness he gives of an adult Christian life which
effectively introduces the children into the living experience of Christ and the
church.
26. In the family, which is a community of persons, special attention must be
devoted to the children by developing a profound esteem for their personal
dignity and a great respect and generous concern for their rights. This is true
for every child, but it becomes all the more urgent the smaller the child is and
the more it is in need of everything, when it is sick, suffering or handicapped.
By fostering and exercising a tender and strong concern for every child that
comes into this world, the church fulfills a fundamental mission: for she is
called upon to reveal and put forward anew in history the example and the
commandment of Christ the Lord, who placed the child at the heart of the kingdom
of God: "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such
belongs the kingdom of heaven."[75]
I repeat once again what I said to the General Assembly of the United Nations
Oct. 2, 1979: "I wish to express the joy that we all find in children, the
springtime of life, the anticipation of the future history of each of our
present earthly homelands. No country on earth, no political system can think of
its own future otherwise than through the image of these new generations that
will receive from their parents the manifold heritage of values, duties and
aspirations of the nation to which they belong and of the whole human family.
Concern for the child, even before birth, from the first moment of conception
and then throughout the years of infancy and youth, is the primary and
fundamental test of the relationship of one human being to another. And so, what
better wish can I express for every nation and for the whole of mankind, and for
all the children of the world than a better future in which respect for human
rights will become a complete reality throughout the third millennium, which is
drawing near."[76]
Acceptance, love, esteem, many-sided and united material, emotional, educational
and spiritual concern for every child that comes into this world should always
constitute a distinctive, essential characteristic of all Christians, in
particular of the Christian family: Thus children, while they are able to grow
"in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man,"[77] offer their own
precious contribution to building up the family community and even to the
sanctification of their parents.[78]
27. There are cultures which manifest a unique veneration and great love for the
elderly: Far from being outcasts from the family or merely tolerated as a
useless burden, they continue to be present and to take an active and
responsible part in family life, though having to respect the autonomy of the
new family, above all they carry out the important mission of being a witness to
the past and a source of wisdom for the young and for the future.
Other cultures, however, especially in the wake of disordered industrial and
urban development, have both in the past and in the present set the elderly
aside in unacceptable ways. This causes acute suffering to them and spiritually
impoverishes many families.
The pastoral activity of the church must help everyone to discover and to make
good use of the role of the elderly within the civil and ecclesial community, in
particular within the family. In fact, "the life of the aging helps to clarify a
scale of human values; it shows the continuity of generations and marvelously
demonstrates the interdependence of God's people. The elderly often have the
charism to bridge generation gaps before they are made: How many children have
found understanding and love in the eyes and words and caresses of the aging!
And how many old people have willingly subscribed to the inspired word that the
'crown of the aged is their children's children' (Prv. 17:6)!"[79]
II. SERVING LIFE
28. With the creation of man and woman in his own image and likeness, God crowns
and brings to perfection the work of his hands: He calls them to a special
sharing in his love and in his power as creator and Father through their free
and responsible cooperation in transmitting the gift of human life: "God blessed
them, and God said to them, 'be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it.'"[80]
Thus the fundamental task of the family is to serve life, to actualize in
history the original blessing of the creator--that of transmitting by
procreation the divine image from person to person.[81]
Fecundity is the fruit and the sign of conjugal love, the living testimony of
the full reciprocal self-giving of the spouses: "While not making the other
purposes of matrimony of less account, the true practice of conjugal love, and
the whole meaning of the family life which results from it, have this aim: that
the couple be ready with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the creator
and the savior, who through them will enlarge and enrich his own family day by
day."[82]
However, the fruitfulness of conjugal love is not restricted solely to the
procreation of children, even understood in its specifically human dimension: It
is enlarged and enriched by all those fruits of moral, spiritual and
supernatural life which the father and mother are called to hand on to their
children, and through the children to the church and to the world.
29. Precisely because the love of husband and wife is a unique participation in
the mystery of life and of the love of God himself, the church knows that she
has received the special mission of guarding and protecting the lofty dignity of
marriage and the most serious responsibility of the transmission of human life.
Thus, in continuity with the living tradition of the ecclesial community
throughout history, the recent Second Vatican Council and the magisterium of my
predecessor Paul VI, expressed above all in the encyclical Humanae Vitae, have
handed on to our times a truly prophetic proclamation, which reaffirms and
reproposes with clarity the church's teaching and norm, always old yet always
new, regarding marriage and regarding the transmission of human life.
For this reason the synod fathers made the following declaration at their last
assembly:
"This sacred synod, gathered together with the successor of Peter in the unity
of faith, firmly holds what has been set forth in the Second Vatican Council
(cf. Gaudium et Spes, 50) and afterward in the encyclical Humanae Vitae,
particularly that love between husband and wife must be fully human, exclusive
and open to new life (Humanae Vitae,ll:cf.9,12)."[83]
30. The teaching of the church in our day is placed in a social and cultural
context which renders it more difficult to understand and yet more urgent and
irreplaceable for promoting the true good of men and women.
Scientific and technological progress, which contemporary man is continually
expanding in his dominion over nature, not only offers the hope of creating a
new and better humanity, but also causes ever greater anxiety regarding the
future. Some ask themselves if it is a good thing to be alive or if it would be
better never to have been born; they doubt therefore if it is right to bring
others into life when perhaps they will curse their existence in a cruel world
with unforeseeable terrors. Others consider themselves to be the only ones for
whom the advantages of technology are intended and they exclude others by
imposing on them contraceptives or even worse means. Still others imprisoned in
a consumer mentality and whose sole concern is to bring about a continual growth
of material goods, finish by ceasing to understand, and thus by refusing, the
spiritual riches of a new human life. The ultimate reason for these mentalities
is the absence in people's hearts of God, whose love alone is stronger than all
the world's fears and can conquer them.
Thus an anti-life mentality is born, as can be seen in many current issues: One
thinks, for example of a certain panic deriving from the studies of ecologists
and futurologists on population growth, which sometimes exaggerate the danger of
demographic increase to the quality of life.
But the church firmly believes that human life, even if weak and suffering, is
always a splendid gift of God's goodness. Against the pessimism and selfishness
which cast a shadow over the world, the church stands for life: In each human
life she sees the splendor of that "yes," that "amen," who is Christ
himself.[84] To the "no" which assails and afflicts the world, she replies with
this living "yes," thus defending the human person and the world from all who
plot against and harm life.
The church is called upon to manifest anew to everyone, with clear and stronger
conviction, her will to promote human life by every means and to defend it
against all attacks in whatever condition or state of development it is found.
Thus the church condemns as a grave offense against human dignity and justice
all those activities of governments or other public authorities which attempt to
limit in any way the freedom of couples in deciding about children. Consequently
any violence applied by such authorities in favor of contraception or, still
worse, of sterilization and procured abortion must be altogether condemned and
forcefully rejected. Likewise to be denounced as gravely unjust are cases where
in international relations economic help given for the advancement of peoples is
made conditional on programs of contraception, sterilization and procured
abortion.[85]
31. The church is certainly aware of the many complex problems which couples in
many countries face today in their task of transmitting life in responsible way.
She also recognizes the serious problem of population growth in the form it has
taken in many parts of the world and its moral implications.
However, she holds that consideration in depth of all the aspects of these
problems offers a new and stronger confirmation of the importance of the
authentic teaching on birth regulation reproposed in the Second Vatican Council
and in the encyclical Humanae Vitae.
For this reason, together with the synod fathers I feel it is my duty to extend
a pressing invitation to theologians, asking them to unite their efforts in
order to collaborate with the hierarchical magisterium and to commit themselves
to the task of illustrating ever more clearly the biblical foundations, the
ethical grounds and the personalistic reasons behind this doctrine. Thus it will
be possible, in the context of an organic exposition, to render the teaching of
the church on this fundamental question truly accessible to all people of good
will, fostering a daily more enlightened and profound understanding of it. In
this way God's plan will be ever more completely fulfilled for the salvation of
humanity and for the glory of the Creator.
A united effort by theologians in this regard, inspired by a convinced adherence
to the magisterium, which is the one authentic guide for the people of God, is
particularly urgent for reasons that include the close link between Catholic
teaching on this matter and the view of the human person that the church
proposes: Doubt or error in the field of marriage or the family involves
obscuring to a serious extent the integral truth about the human person in a
cultural situation that is already so often confused and contradictory. In
fulfillment of their specific role theologians are called upon to provide
enlightenment and a deeper understanding, and their contribution is of
incomparable value and represents a unique and highly meritorious service to the
family and humanity.
32. In the context of a culture which seriously distorts or entirely
misinterprets the true meaning of human sexuality because it separates it from
its essential reference to the person, the church more urgently feels how
irreplaceable is her mission of presenting sexuality as a value and task of the
whole person, created male and female in the image of God.
In this perspective the Second Vatican Council clearly affirmed that "when there
is a question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of
life, the moral aspect of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere
intentions or on an evaluation of motives. It must be determined by objective
standards. These, based on the nature of the human person and his or her acts,
preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the
context of true love. Such a goal cannot be achieved unless the virtue of
conjugal chastity is sincerely practiced."[86]
It is precisely by moving from "an integral vision of man and of his vocation,
not only his natural and earthly, but also his supernatural and eternal
vocation,"[87] that Paul VI affirmed that the teaching of the church "is founded
upon the inseparable connection willed by God and unable to be broken by man on
his own initiative between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive
meaning and the procreative meaning."[88] And he concluded by re-emphasizing
that there must be excluded as intrinsically immoral "every action which, either
in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the
development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a
means, to render procreation impossible."[89]
When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings
that God the creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the
dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as "arbiters" of the divine plan
and they "manipulate" and degrade human sexuality and with it themselves and
their married partner by altering its value of "total" self-giving. Thus the
innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and
wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory
language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads
not only to a positive refusal to be open to life, but also to a falsification
of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in
personal totality.
When, instead, by means of recourse to periods of infertility, the couple
respect the inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings
of human sexuality, they are acting as "ministers" of God's plan and they
"benefit from" their sexuality according to the original dynamism of "total"
self-giving, without manipulation or alteration.[90]
In the light of the experience of many couples and of the data provided by the
different human sciences, theological reflection is able to perceive and is
called to study further the difference, both anthropological and moral, between
contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle: It is a difference which
is much wider and deeper than is usually thought, one which involves in the
final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human
sexuality. The choice of the natural rhythms involves accepting the cycle of the
person, that is, the woman, and thereby accepting dialogue, reciprocal respect,
shared responsibility and self-control.To accept the cycle and to enter into
dialogue means to recognize both the spiritual and corporal character of
conjugal communion and to live personal love with its requirement of fidelity.
In this context the couple comes to experience how conjugal communion is
enriched with those values of tenderness and affection which constitute the
inner soul of human sexuality in its physical dimension also. In this way
sexuality is respected and promoted in its truly and fully human dimension and
is never "used" as an "object" that, by breaking the personal unity of soul and
body, strikes at God's creation itself at the level of the deepest interaction
of nature and person.
33. In the field of conjugal morality the church is teacher and mother and acts
as such.
As teacher, she never tires of proclaiming the moral norm that must guide the
responsible transmission of life. The church is in no way the author or the
arbiter of this norm. In obedience to the truth which is Christ, whose image is
reflected in the nature and dignity of the human person, the church interprets
the moral norm and proposes it to all people of good will without concealing its
demands of radicalness and perfection.
As mother, the church is close to the many married couples who find themselves
in difficulty over this important point of the moral life: She knows well their
situation, which is often very arduous and at times truly tormented by
difficulties of every kind, not only individual difficulties but social ones as
well; she knows that many couples encounter difficulties not only in the
concrete fulfillment of the moral norm but even in understanding its inherent
values.
But it is one and the same church that is both teacher and mother. And so the
church never ceases to exhort and encourage all to resolve whatever conjugal
difficulties may arise without ever falsifying or compromising the truth: She is
convinced that there can be no true contradiction between the divine law on
transmitting life and that on fostering authentic married love.[91] Accordingly,
the concrete pedagogy of the church must always remain linked with her doctrine
and never be separated from it. With the same conviction as my predecessor, I
therefore repeat: "To diminish in no way the saving teaching of Christ
constitutes an eminent form of charity for souls."[92]
On the other hand, authentic ecclesial pedagogy displays its realism and wisdom
only by making a tenacious and courageous effort to create and uphold all the
human conditions--psychological, moral and spiritual--indispensable for
understanding and living the moral value and norm.
There is no doubt that these conditions must include persistence and patience,
humility and strength of mind, filial trust in God and in his grace, and
frequent recourse to prayer and to the sacraments of the eucharist and of
reconciliation.[93] Thus strengthened, Christian husbands and wives will be able
to keep alive their awareness of the unique influence that the grace of the
sacrament of marriage has on every aspect of married life including, therefore,
their sexuality: The gift of the Spirit, accepted and responded to by husband
and wife, helps them to live their human sexuality in accordance with God's plan
and as a sign of the unitive and fruitful love of Christ for his church.
But the necessary conditions also include knowledge of the bodily aspect and the
body's rhythms of fertility. Accordingly, every effort must be made to render
such knowledge accessible to all married people and also to young adults before
marriage through clear, timely and serious instruction and education given by
married couples, doctors and experts. Knowledge must then lead to education in
self-control: Hence the absolute necessity for the virtue of chastity and for
permanent education in it. In the Christian view, chastity by no means signifies
rejection of human sexuality or lack of esteem for it: Rather it signifies
spiritual energy capable of defending love from the perils of selfishness and
aggressiveness, and able to advance it toward its full realization.
With deeply wise and loving intuition, Paul VI was only voicing the experience
of many married couples when he wrote in his encyclical: "To dominate instinct
by means of one's reason and free will undoubtedly requires ascetical practices,
so that the affective manifestations of conjugal life may observe the correct
order, in particular with regard to the observance of periodic continence. Yet
this discipline which is proper to the purity of married couples, far from
harming conjugal love, rather confers on it a higher human value. It demands
continual effort, yet thanks to its beneficent influence husband and wife fully
develop their personalities, being enriched with spiritual values. Such
discipline bestows upon family life fruits of serenity and peace, and
facilitates the solution of other problems; it favors attention for one's
partner, helps both parties to drive out selfishness, the enemy of true love,
and deepens their sense of responsibility. By its means, parents acquire the
capacity of having a deeper and more efficacious influence on the education of
their offspring."[94]
34. It is always very important to have a right notion of the moral order, its
values and its norms; and the importance is all the greater when the
difficulties in the way or respecting them become more numerous and serious.
Since the moral order reveals and sets forth the plan of God the creator, for
this very reason it cannot be something that harms man, something impersonal. On
the contrary, by responding to the deepest demands of the human being created by
God, it places itself at the service of that person's full humanity with the
delicate and binding love whereby God himself inspires, sustains and guides
every creature toward its happiness.
But man, who has been called to live God's wise and loving design in a
responsible manner, is an historical being who day by day builds himself up
through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves and accomplishes moral
good by stages of growth.
Married people too are called upon to progress unceasingly in their moral life
with the support of a sincere and active desire to gain ever better knowledge of
the values enshrined in and fostered by the law of God. They must also be
supported by an upright and generous willingness to embody these values in their
concrete decisions. They cannot, however, look on the law as merely an ideal to
be achieved in the future: They must consider it as a command of Christ the Lord
to overcome difficulties with constancy. "And so what is known as 'the law of
gradualness' or step-by-step advance cannot be identified with 'gradualness of
the law,' as if there were different degrees or forms of precept in God's law
for different individuals and situations. In God's plan, all husbands and wives
are called in marriage to holiness, and this lofty vocation is fulfilled to the
extent that the human person is able to respond to God's command with serene
confidence in God's grace and in his or her own will."[95] On the same lines, it
is part of the church's pedagogy that husbands and wives should first of all
recognize clearly the teaching of Humanae Vitae as indicating the norm for the
exercise of their sexuality, and that they should endeavor to establish the
conditions necessary for observing that norm. As the synod noted, this pedagogy
embraces the whole of married life. Accordingly, the function of transmitting
life must be integrated into the overall mission of Christian life as a whole
which, without the cross, cannot reach the resurrection. In such a context it is
understandable that sacrifice cannot be removed from family life, but must in
fact be wholeheartedly accepted if the love between husband and wife is to be
deepened and become a source of intimate joy.
This shared progress demands reflection, instruction and suitable education on
the part of the priests, religious and lay people engaged in family pastoral
work: they will all be able to assist married people in their human and
spiritual progress, a progress that demands awareness of sin, a sincere
commitment to observe the moral law and the ministry of reconciliation. It must
also be kept in mind that conjugal intimacy involves the wills of two persons,
who are thereby called to harmonize their mentality and behavior, requiring much
patience, understanding and time. Uniquely important in this field is unity of
moral and pastoral judgment by priests--a unity that must be carefully sought
and ensured in order that the faithful may not have to suffer anxiety of
conscience.[96]
It will be easier for married people to make progress if, with respect for the
church's teaching and with trust in the grace of Christ, and with the help and
support of the pastors of souls and the entire ecclesial community, they are
able to discover and experience the liberating and inspiring value of the
authentic love that is offered by the Gospel and set before us by the Lord's
commandment.
35. With regard to the question of lawful birth regulation, the ecclesial
community at the present time must take on the task of instilling conviction and
offering practical help to those who wish to live out their parenthood in a
truly responsible way.
In this matter, while the church notes with satisfaction the results achieved by
scientific research aimed at a more precise knowledge of the rhythms of women's
fertility, and while it encourages a more decisive and wide-ranging extension of
that research, it cannot fail to call with renewed vigor on the responsibility
of all--doctors, experts, marriage counselors, teachers and married couples--who
can actually help married people to live their love with respect for the
structure and finalities of the conjugal act which expresses that love. This
implies a broader, more decisive and more systematic effort to make the natural
methods of regulating fertility known, respected and applied.[97]
A very valuable witness can and should be given by those husbands and wives who,
through the joint exercise of periodic continence, have reached a more mature
personal responsibility with regard to love and life. As Paul VI wrote: "To them
the Lord entrusts the task of making visible to people the holiness and
sweetness of the law which unites the mutual love of husband and wife with their
cooperation with the love of God the author of human life."[98]
36. The right and duty of parents regarding education
The task of giving education is rooted in the primary vocation of married
couples to participate in God's creative activity: By begetting in love and for
love a new person who has within himself or herself the vocation for growth and
development, parents by that very fact take the task of helping that person
effectively to live a fully human life. As the Second Vatican Council recalled,
"Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn
obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as
the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is
so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. For
it devolves on parents to create a family atmosphere so animated with love and
reverence for God and others that a well-rounded personal and social development
will be fostered among the children.
Hence, the family is the first school of those social virtues which every
society needs."[99]
The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is
connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with
regard to the educational role of others on account of the uniqueness of the
loving relationship between parents and children; and it is irreplaceable and
inalienable and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or
usurped by others.
In addition to those characteristics, it cannot be forgotten that the most basic
element, so basic that it qualifies the educational role of parents, is parental
love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and
perfects its service of life. As well as being a source, the parents' love is
also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all
concrete educational activity, enriching it with the values of kindness,
constancy, goodness, service, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice that are the
most precious fruit of love.
37. Even amid the difficulties of the work of education, difficulties which are
often greater today, parents must trustingly and courageously train their
children in the essential values of human life. Children must grow up with a
correct attitude of freedom with regard to material goods, by adopting a simple
and austere lifestyle and being fully convinced that "man is more precious for
what he is than for what he has. "[100]
In a society shaken and split by tensions and conflicts caused by the violent
clash of various kinds of individualism and selfishness, children must be
enriched not only with a sense of true justice, which alone leads to respect for
the personal dignity of each individual, but also and more powerfully by a sense
of true love, understood as sincere solicitude and disinterested service with
regard to others, especially the poorest and those in most need. The family is
the first and fundamental school of social living: As a community of love, it
finds in self-giving the law that guides it and makes it grow. The self-giving
that inspires the love of husband and wife for each other is the model and norm
for the selfgiving that must be practiced in the relationships between brothers
and sisters and the different generations living together in the family. And the
communion and sharing that are part of everyday life in the home at times of joy
and at times of difficulty are the most concrete and effective pedagogy for the
active, responsible and fruitful inclusion of the children in the wider horizon
of society.
Education in love as self-giving is also the indispensable premise for parents
called to give their children a clear and delicate sex education. Faced with a
culture that largely reduces human sexuality to the level of something
commonplace, since it interprets and lives it in a reductive and impoverished
way by linking it solely with the body and with selfish pleasure, the
educational service of parents must aim firmly at a training in the area of sex
that is truly and fully personal: for sexuality is an enrichment of the whole
person--body, emotions and soul--and it manifests its inmost meaning in leading
the person to the gift of self in love.
Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be
carried out under their attentive guidance whether at home or in educational
centers chosen and controlled by them. In this regard, the church reaffirms the
law of subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in
sex education, by entering into the same spirit that animates the parents.
In this context education for chastity is absolutely essential, for it is a
virtue that develops a person's authentic maturity and makes him or her capable
of respecting and fostering the "nuptial meaning" of the body. Indeed Christian
parents, discerning the signs of God's call, will devote special attention and
care to education in virginity or celibacy as the supreme form of that
self-giving that constitutes the very meaning of human sexuality.
In view of the close links between the sexual dimension of the person and his or
her ethical values, education must bring the children to a knowledge of and
respect for the moral norms as the necessary and highly valuable guarantee for
responsible personal growth in human sexuality.
For this reason the church is firmly opposed to an often widespread form of
imparting sex information dissociated from moral principles. That would merely
be an introduction to the experience of pleasure and a stimulus leading to the
loss of serenity--while still in the years of innocence--by opening the way to
vice.
38. For Christian parents the mission to educate, a mission rooted as we have
said in their participation in God's creating activity, has a new specific
source in the sacrament of marriage, which consecrates them for the strictly
Christian education of their children: that is to say, it calls upon them to
share in the very authority and love of God the Father and Christ the shepherd,
and in the motherly love of the church, and it enriches them with wisdom,
counsel, fortitude and all the other gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to help
the children in their growth as human beings and as Christians.
The sacrament of marriage gives to the educational role the dignity and vocation
of being really and truly a "ministry" of the church at the service of the
building up of her members. So great and splendid is the educational ministry of
Christian parents that St. Thomas has no hesitation in comparing it with the
ministry of priests: "Some only propagate and guard spiritual life by a
spiritual ministry: This is the role of the sacrament of orders, others do this
for both corporal and spiritual life, and this is brought about by the sacrament
of marriage, by which a man and a woman join in order to beget offspring and
bring them up to worship God."[101]
A vivid and attentive awareness of the mission that they have received with the
sacrament of marriage will help Christian parents to place themselves at the
service of their children's education with great serenity and trustfulness, and
also with a sense of responsibility before God, who calls them and gives them
the mission of building up the church in their children. Thus in the case of
baptized people, the family, called together by word and sacrament as the church
of the home, is both teacher and mother, the same as the worldwide church.
39. The mission to educate demands that Christian parents should present to
their children all the topics that are necessary for the gradual maturing of
their personality from a Christian and ecclesial point of view. They will
therefore follow the educational lines mentioned above, taking care to show
their children the depths of significance to which the faith and love of Jesus
Christ can lead. Furthermore, their awareness that the Lord is entrusting to
them the growth of a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, a temple of
the Holy Spirit, a member of the church, will support Christian parents in their
task of strengthening the gift of divine grace in their children's souls.
The Second Vatican Council describes the content of Christian education as
follows: "Such an education does not merely strive to foster maturity. . . in
the human person. Rather, its principal aims are these: that as baptized persons
are gradually introduced into a knowledge of the mystery of salvation, they may
daily grow more conscious of the gift of faith which they have received; that
they may learn to adore God the Father in spirit and in truth (cf. Jn. 4:23),
especially through liturgical worship; that they may be trained to conduct their
personal life in true righteousness and holiness, according to their new nature
(Eph. 4:22-24), and thus grow to maturity, to the stature of the fullness of
Christ (cf. Eph. 4:13), and devote themselves to the upbuilding of the mystical
body. Moreover, aware of their calling, they should grow accustomed to giving
witness to the hope that is in them (cf. I Pt. 3:15), and to promoting the
Christian transformation of the world.[102]
The synod too, taking up and developing the indications of the council,
presented the educational mission of the Christian family as a true ministry
through which the Gospel is transmitted and radiated, so that family life itself
becomes an itinerary of faith and in some way a Christian initiation and a
school of following Christ. Within a family that is aware of this gift, as Paul
VI wrote, "all the members evangelize and are evangelized."[103]
By virtue of their ministry of educating, parents are through the witness of
their lives the first heralds of the Gospel for their children. Furthermore, by
praying with their children, by reading the word of God with them and by
introducing them deeply through Christian initiation into the body of
Christ--both the eucharistic and the ecclesial body--they become fully parents,
in that they are begetters not only of bodily life but also of the life that
through the Spirit's renewal flows from the cross and resurrection of Christ.
In order that Christian parents may worthily carry out their ministry of
education, the synod fathers expressed the hope that a suitable catechism for
families would be prepared, one that would be clear, brief and easily
assimilated by all. The episcopal conferences were warmly invited to contribute
to producing this catechism.
40. The family is the primary but not the only and exclusive educating
community. Man's community aspect itself--both civil and ecclesial--demands and
leads to a broader and more articulated activity resulting from well-ordered
collaboration between the various agents of education. All these agents are
necessary, even though each can and should play its part in accordance with the
special competence and contribution proper to itself.[104]
The educational role of the Christian family therefore has a very important
place in organic pastoral work. This involves a new form of cooperation between
parents and Christian communities and between the various educational groups and
pastors. In this sense, the renewal of the Catholic school must give special
attention both to the parents of the pupils and to the formation of a perfect
educating community.
The right of parents to choose an education in conformity with their religious
faith must be absolutely guaranteed.
The state and the church have the obligation to give families all possible aid
to enable them to perform their educational role properly. Therefore both the
church and the state must create and foster the institutions and activities that
families justly demand, and the aid must be in proportion to the families'
needs. However, those in society who are in charge of schools must never forget
that the parents have been appointed by God himself as the first and principal
educators of their children and that their right is completely inalienable.
But corresponding to their right, parents have a serious duty to commit
themselves totally to a cordial and active relationship with the teachers and
school authorities.
If ideologies opposed to the Christian faith are taught in the schools, the
family must join with other families, if possible through family associations,
and with all its strength and with wisdom help the young not to depart from the
faith. In this case the family needs special assistance from pastors of souls,
who must never forget that parents have the inviolable right to entrust their
children to the ecclesial community.
41. Fruitful married love expresses itself in serving life in many ways. Of
these ways, begetting and educating children are the most immediate, specific
and irreplaceable. In fact, every act of true love toward a human being bears
witness to and perfects the spiritual fecundity of the family, since it is an
act of obedience to the deep inner dynamism of love as self-giving to others.
For everyone this perspective is full of value and commitment, and it can be an
inspiration in particular for couples who experience physical sterility.
Christian families, recognizing with faith all human beings as children of the
same heavenly Father, will respond generously to the children of other families,
giving them support and love not as outsiders but as members of the one family
of God's children. Christian parents will thus be able to spread their love
beyond the bonds of flesh and blood, nourishing the links that are rooted in the
spirit and that develop through concrete service to the children of other
families, who are often without even the barest necessities.
Christian families will be able to show greater readiness to adopt and foster
children who have lost their parents or have been abandoned by them.
Rediscovering the warmth of affection of a family, these children will be able
to experience God's loving and provident fatherhood witnessed to by Christian
parents, and they will thus be able to grow up with serenity and confidence in
life. At the same time the whole family will be enriched with the spiritual
values of a wider fraternity.
Family fecundity must have an unceasing "creativity," a marvelous fruit of the
Spirit of God, who opens the eyes of the heart to discover the new needs and
sufferings of our society and gives courage for accepting them and responding to
them. A vast field of activity lies open to families: Today even more
preoccupying than child abandonment is the phenomenon of social and cultural
exclusion, which seriously affects the elderly, the sick, the disabled, drug
addicts, ex-prisoners, etc.
This broadens enormously the horizons of the parenthood of Christian families:
These and many other urgent needs of our time are a challenge to their
spiritually fruitful love. With families and through them, the Lord Jesus
continues to "have compassion" on the multitudes.
III. PARTICIPATING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY
42. "Since the Creator of all things has established the conjugal partnership as
the beginning and basis of human society,"the family is "the first and vital
cell of society."[105]
The family has vital and organic links with society since it is its foundation
and nourishes it continually through its role of service to life: It is from the
family that citizens come to birth and it is within the family that they find
the first school of the social virtues that are the animating principle of the
existence and development of society itself.
Thus, far from being closed in on itself, the family is by nature and vocation
open to other families and to society and undertakes its social role.
43. The very experience of communion and sharing that should characterize the
family's daily life represents its first and fundamental contribution to
society.
The relationships between the members of the family community are inspired and
guided by the law of "free giving." By respecting and fostering personal dignity
in each and every one as the only basis for value, this free giving takes the
form of heartfelt acceptance, encounter and dialogue, disinterested
availability, generous service and deep solidarity.
Thus the fostering of authentic and mature communion between persons within the
family is the first and irreplaceable school of social life, an example and
stimulus for the broader community of relationships marked by respect, justice,
dialogue and love.
The family is thus, as the synod fathers recalled, the place of origin and the
most effective means for humanizing and personalizing society: It makes an
original contribution in depth in building up the world, by making possible a
life that is, properly speaking, human, in particular by guarding and
transmitting virtues and "values." As the Second Vatican Council states, in the
family "the various generations come together and help one another to grow wiser
and to harmonize personal rights with the other requirements of social
living."[106]
Consequently, faced with a society that is running the risk of becoming more and
more depersonalized and standardized and therefore inhuman and dehumanizing,
with the negative results of many forms of escapism--such as alcoholism, drugs
and even terrorism--the family possesses and continues still to release
formidable energies capable of taking man out of his anonymity, keeping him
conscious of his personal dignity, enriching him with deep humanity and actively
placing him, in his uniqueness and unrepeatability, within the fabric of
society.
44. The social role of the family certainly cannot stop short at procreation and
education even if this constitutes its primary and irreplaceable form of
expression.
Families therefore, either singly or in association, can and should devote
themselves to manifold social service activities, especially in favor of the
poor or at any rate for the benefit of all people and situations that cannot be
reached by the public authorities' welfare organization.
The social contribution of the family has an original character of its own, one
that should be given greater recognition and more decisive encouragement,
especially as the children grow up, and actually involving all its members as
much as possible.[107]
In particular, note must be taken of the ever greater importance in our society
of hospitality in all its forms, from opening the door of one's home, and still
more of one's heart, to the pleas of one's brothers and sisters, to concrete
efforts to ensure that every family has its own home as the natural environment
that preserves it and makes it grow. In a special way the Christian family is
called upon to listen to the apostle's recommendation. "Practice
hospitality,"[108] and therefore, imitating Christ's example and sharing in his
love, welcome the brother or sister in need: "Whoever gives to one of these
little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to
you, he shall not lose his reward."[109]
The social role of families is called upon to find expression also in the form
of political intervention: Families should be the first to take steps to see
that the laws and institutions of the state not only do not offend, but support
and positively defend the rights and duties of the family. Along these lines
families should grow in awareness of being "protagonists" of what is known as
"family politics" and assume responsibility for transforming society; otherwise
families will be the first victims of the evils that they have done no more than
note with indifference. The Second Vatican Council's appeal to go beyond an
individualistic ethic therefore also holds good for the family as such.[110]
45. Just as the intimate connection between the family and society demands that
the family be open to and participate in society and its development, so also it
requires that society should never fail in its fundamental task of respecting
and fostering the family.
The family and society have complementary functions in defending and fostering
the good of each and every human being. But society--more specifically the
state--must recognize that "the family is a society in its own original
right,"[111] and so society is under a grave obligation in its relations with
the family to adhere to the principle of subsidiarity.
Society should not take from families the functions that they can just as well
perform on their own or in free associations; instead it must positively favor
and encourage as far as possible responsible initiative by families. In the
conviction that the good of the family is an indispensable and essential value
of the civil community, the public authorities must do everything possible to
ensure that families have all those aids--economic, social, educational,
political and cultural assistance--that they need in order to face all their
responsibilities in a human way.
46. The ideal of mutual support and development between the family and society
is often very seriously in conflict with the reality of their separation and
even opposition.
In fact, as was repeatedly denounced by the synod, the situation experienced by
many families in various countries is highly problematical if not entirely
negative: Institutions and laws unjustly ignore the inviolable rights of the
family and of the human person; and society, far from putting itself at the
service of the family, attacks it violently in its values and fundamental
requirements. Thus the family, which in God's plan is the basic cell of society
and a subject of rights and duties before the state or any other community,
finds itself the victim of society, of the delays and slowness with which it
acts, and even of its blatant injustice.
For this reason the church openly and strongly defends the rights of the family
against the intolerable usurpations of society and the state. In particular the
synod fathers mentioned the following rights of the family: --The right to exist
and progress as a family, that is to say, the right of every human being, even
if he or she is poor, to found a family and to have adequate means to support
it;
--The right to exercise its responsibility regarding the transmission of life
and to educate children;
--The right to the intimacy of conjugal and family life;
--The right to the stability of the bond and of the institution of marriage;
--The right to believe in and profess one's faith and to propagate it;
--The right to bring up children in accordance with the family's own traditions
and religious and cultural values, with the necessary instruments, means and
institutions;
--The right, especially of the poor and the sick, to obtain physical, social,
political and economic security;
--The right to housing suitable for living family life in a proper way;
--The right to expression and to representation, either directly or through
associations, before the economic, social and cultural public authorities and
lower authorities;
--The right to form associations with other families and institutions in order
to fulfill the family's role suitably and expeditiously;
--The right to protect minors by adequate institutions and legislation from
harmful drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.;
--The right to wholesome recreation of a kind that also fosters family values;
--The right of the elderly to a worthy life and a worthy death;
--The right to emigrate as a family in search of a better life.[112]
Acceding to the synod's explicit request, the Holy See will give prompt
attention to studying these suggestions in depth and to the preparation of a
charter of rights of the family to be presented to the quarters and authorities
concerned.
47. The social role that belongs to every family pertains by a new and original
right to the Christian family, which is based on the sacrament of marriage. By
taking up the human reality of the love between husband and wife in all its
implications, the sacrament gives to Christian couples and parents a power and a
commitment to live their vocation as lay people and therefore to "seek the
kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to
the plan of God."[113]
The social and political role is included in the kingly mission of service in
which Christian couples share by virtue of the sacrament of marriage, and they
receive both a command which they cannot ignore and a grace which sustains and
stimulates them.
The Christian family is thus called upon to offer everyone a witness of generous
and disinterested dedication to social matters through a "preferential option"
for the poor and disadvantaged. Therefore, advancing in its following of the
Lord by special love for all the poor, it must have special concern for the
hungry, the poor, the old, the sick, drug victims and those who have no family.
48. In view of the worldwide dimension of various social questions nowadays, the
family has seen its role with regard to the development of society extended in a
completely new way: It now also involves cooperating for a new international
order, since it is only in worldwide solidarity that the enormous and dramatic
issues of world justice, the freedom of peoples and the peace of humanity can be
dealt with and solved.
The spiritual communion between Christian families, rooted in a common faith and
hope and given life by love, constitutes an inner energy that generates, spreads
and develops justice, reconciliation, fraternity and peace among human beings.
Insofar as it is a "smallscale church," the Christian family is called upon,
like the "large-scale church," to be a sign of unity for the world and in this
way to exercise its prophetic role by bearing witness to the kingdom and peace
of Christ, toward which the whole world is journeying.
Christian families can do this through their educational activity--that is to
say, by presenting to their children a model of life based on the values of
truth, freedom, justice and love--both through active and responsible
involvement in the authentically human growth of society and its institutions,
and supporting in various ways the associations specifically devoted to
international issues.
IV. SHARING IN THE LIFE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH
49. Among the fundamental tasks of the Christian family is its ecclesial task:
The family is placed at the service of the building up of the kingdom of God in
history by participating in the life and mission of the church.
In order to understand better the foundations, the contents and the
characteristics of this participation, we must examine the many profound bonds
linking the church and the Christian family and establishing the family as a
"church in miniature" (ecclesia domestica),[114] in such a way that in its own
way the family is a living image and historical representation of the mystery of
the church.
It is, above all, the church as mother that gives birth to, educates and builds
up the Christian family by putting into effect in its regard the saving mission
which she has received from her Lord. By proclaiming the word of God the church
reveals to the Christian family its true identity, what it is and should be
according to the Lord's plan; by celebrating the sacraments the church enriches
and strengthens the Christian family with the grace of Christ for its
sanctification to the glory of the Father; by the continuous proclamation of the
new commandment of love the church encourages and guides the Christian family to
the service of love so that it may imitate and relive the same self-giving and
sacrificial love that the Lord Jesus has for the entire human race.
In turn, the Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the church to such
a degree as to become a sharer, in its own way, in the saving mission proper to
the church: By virtue of the sacrament Christian married couples and parents "in
their state and way of life have their own special gift among the people of
God."[115] For this reason they not only receive the love of Christ and become a
saved community, but they are also called upon to communicate Christ's love to
their brethren thus becoming a saving community. In this way, while the
Christian family is a fruit and sign of the supernatural fecundity of the
church, it stands also as a symbol, witness and participant of the church's
motherhood.[116]
50. The Christian family is called upon to take part actively and responsibly in
the mission of the church in a way that is original and specific by placing
itself in what it is and what it does as an "intimate community of life and
love" at the service of the church and of society.
Since the Christian family is a community in which the relationships are renewed
by Christ through faith and the sacraments, the family's sharing in the church's
mission should follow a community pattern: The spouses together as a couple, the
parents and children as a family, must live their service to the church and to
the world. They must be "of one heart and soul"[117] in faith, through the
shared apostolic zeal that animates them and through their shared commitment to
works of service in the ecclesial and civil communities.
The Christian family also builds up the kingdom of God in history through the
everyday realities that concern and distinguish its state of life. It is thus in
the love between husband and wife and between the members of the family--a love
lived out in all its extraordinary richness of values and demands: totality,
oneness, fidelity and fruitfulness"[118]--that the Christian family's
participation in the prophetic, priestly and kingly mission of Jesus Christ and
of his church finds expression and realization. Therefore, love and life
constitute the nucleus of the saving mission of the Christian family in the
church and for the church.
The Second Vatican Council recalls this fact when it writes: "Families will
share their spiritual riches generously with other families too. Thus the
Christian family, which springs from marriage as a reflection of the loving
covenant uniting Christ with the church, and as a participation in that covenant
will manifest to all people the savior's living presence in the world, and the
genuine nature of the church. This the family will do by the mutual love of the
spouses, by their generous fruitfulness, their solidarity and faithfulness, and
by the loving way in which all the members of the family work together."[119]
Having laid the foundation of the participation of the christian family in the
church's mission, it is now time to illustrate its substance in reference to
Jesus Christ as prophet, priest and king--three aspects of a single reality--by
presenting the Christian family as 1) a believing and evangelizing community, 2)
a community in dialogue with God, and 3) a community at the service of man.
A. The Christian family as a believing and evangelizing community
51. As a sharer in the life and mission of the church, which listens to the word
of God with reverence and proclaims it confidently,[120] the Christian family
fulfills its prophetic role by welcoming and announcing the word of God: It thus
becomes more and more each day a believing and evangelizing community.
Christian spouses and parents are required to offer "the obedience of
faith."[121] They are called upon to welcome the word of the Lord, which reveals
to them the marvelous news--the good news--of their conjugal and family life
sanctified and made a source of sanctity by Christ himself. Only in faith can
they discover and admire with joyful gratitude the dignity to which God has
deigned to raise marriage and the family, making them a sign and meeting place
of the loving covenant between God and man, between Jesus Christ and his bride,
the church.
The very preparation for Christian marriage is itself a journey of faith. It is
a special opportunity for the engaged to rediscover and deepen the faith
received in baptism and nourished by their Christian upbringing. In this way
they come to recognize and freely accept their vocation to follow Christ and to
serve the kingdom of God in the married state.
The celebration of the sacrament of marriage is the basic moment of the faith of
the couple. This sacrament, in essence, is the proclamation in the church of the
good news concerning married love. It is the word of God that "reveals" and
"fulfills" the wise and loving plan of God for the married couple, giving them a
mysterious and real share in the very love with which God himself loves
humanity. Since the sacramental celebration of marriage is itself a proclamation
of the word of God, it must also be a "profession of faith" within and with the
church, as a community of believers, on the part of all those who in different
ways participate in its celebration.
This profession of faith demands that it be prolonged in the life of the married
couple and of the family. God, who called the couple to marriage, continues to
call them in marriage.[122] In and through the events, problems, difficulties
and circumstances of everyday life, God comes to them, revealing and presenting
the concrete "demands" of their sharing in the love of Christ for his church in
the particular family, social and ecclesial situation in which they find
themselves.
The discovery of and obedience to the plan of God on the part of the conjugal
and family community must take place in "togetherness," through the human
experience of love between husband and wife, between parents and children, lived
in the spirit of Christ.
Thus the little domestic church, like the greater church, needs to be constantly
and intensely evangelized: hence its duty regarding permanent education in the
faith.
52. To the extent in which the Christian family accepts the Gospel and matures
in faith, it becomes an evangelizing community. Let us listen again to Paul VI:
"The family, like the church, ought to be a place where the Gospel is
transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates. In a family which is conscious
of this mission, all the members evangelize and are evangelized. The parents not
only communicate the Gospel to their children, but from their children they can
themselves receive the same Gospel as deeply lived by them. And such a family
becomes the evangelizer of many other families and of the neighborhood of which
it forms part. "[123]
As the synod repeated, taking up the appeal which I launched at Puebla, the
future of evangelization depends in great part on the church of the home.[124]
This apostolic mission of the family is rooted in baptism and receives from the
grace of the sacrament of marriage new strength to transmit the faith, to
sanctify and transform our present society according to God's plan.
Particularly today the Christian family has a special vocation to witness to the
paschal covenant of Christ by constantly radiating the joy of love and the
certainty of the hope for which it must give account: "The Christian family
loudly proclaims both the present virtues of the kingdom of God and the hope of
a blessed life to come."[125]
The absolute need for family catechesis emerges with particular force in certain
situations that the church unfortunately experiences in some places: "In places
where anti-religious legislation endeavors even to prevent education in the
faith, and in places where widespread unbelief or invasive secularism makes real
religious growth practically impossible, 'the church of the home' remains the
one place where children and young people can receive an authentic
catechesis."[126]
53. The ministry of evangelization carried out by Christian parents is original
and irreplaceable. It assumes the characteristics typical of family life itself,
which should be interwoven with love, simplicity, practicality and daily
witness.[127]
The family must educate the children for life in such a way that each one may
fully perform his or her role according to the vocation received from God.
Indeed the family that is open to transcendent values, that serves its brothers
and sisters with joy, that fulfills its duties with generous fidelity and is
aware of its daily sharing in the mystery of the glorious cross of Christ,
becomes the primary and most excellent seedbed of vocations to a life of
consecration to the kingdom of God.
The parents' ministry of evangelization and catechesis ought to play a part in
their children's lives also during adolescence and youth, when the children, as
often happens, challenge or even reject the Christian faith received in earlier
years. Just as in the church the work of evangelization can never be separated
from the sufferings of the apostle, so in the Christian family parents must face
with courage and great interior serenity the difficulties that their ministry of
evangelization sometimes encounters in their own children.
It should not be forgotten that the service rendered by Christian spouses and
parents to the Gospel is essentially an ecclesial service. It has its place
within the context of the whole church as an evangelized and evangelizing
community. Insofar as the ministry of evangelization and catechesis of the
church of the home is rooted in and derives from the one mission of the church
and is ordained to the upbuilding of the one body of Christ,[128] it must remain
in intimate communion and collaborate responsibly with all the other
evangelizing and catechetical activities present and at work in the ecclesial
community at the diocesan and parochial levels.
54. Evangelization, urged on within by irrepressible missionary zeal, is
characterized by a universality without boundaries. It is the response to
Christ's explicit and unequivocal command: "Go into all the world and preach the
Gospel to the whole creation."[129]
The Christian family's faith and evangelizing mission also possesses this
Catholic missionary inspiration. The sacrament of marriage takes up and
reproposes the task of defending and spreading the faith, a task that has its
roots in baptism and confirmation,[130] and makes Christian married couples and
parents witnesses of Christ "to the end of the earth,"[131] missionaries, in the
true and proper sense, of love and life.
A form of missionary activity can be exercised even within the family. This
happens when some member of the family does not have the faith or does not
practice it with consistency. In such a case the other members must give him or
her a living witness of their own faith in order to encourage and support him or
her along the path toward full acceptance of Christ the savior.[132]
Animated in its own inner life by missionary zeal, the church of the home is
also called to be a luminous sign of the presence of Christ and of his love for
those who are "far away," for families who do not yet believe and for those
Christian families who no longer live in accordance with the faith that they
once received. The Christian family is called to enlighten "by its example and
its witness those who seek the truth. "[133]
Just as at the dawn of Christianity Aquila and Priscilla were presented as a
missionary couple,[134] so today the church shows forth her perennial newness
and fruitfulness by the presence of Christian couples and families who dedicate
at least a part of their lives to working in missionary territories, proclaiming
the Gospel and doing service to their fellow man in the love of Jesus Christ.
Christian families offer a special contribution to the missionary cause of the
church by fostering missionary vocations among their sons and daughters[135]
and, more generally, "by training their children from childhood to recognize
God's love for all people."[136]
B. The Christian family as a community in dialogue with God
55. The proclamation of the Gospel and its acceptance in faith reach their
fullness in the celebration of the sacraments. The church which is a believing
and evangelizing community is also a priestly people invested with the dignity
and sharing in the power of Christ the high priest of the new and eternal
covenant.[137]
The Christian family too is part of this priestly people which is the church. By
means of the sacrament of marriage, in which it is rooted and from which it
draws its nourishment, the Christian family is continuously vivified by the Lord
Jesus and called and engaged by him in a dialogue with God through the
sacraments, through the offering of one's life and through prayer.
This is the priestly role which the Christian family can and ought to exercise
in intimate communion with the whole church through the daily realities of
married and family life. In this way the Christian family is called to be
sanctified and to sanctify the ecclesial community and the world.
56. The sacrament of marriage is the specific source and original means of
sanctification for Christian married couples and families. It takes up again and
makes specific the sanctifying grace of baptism. By virtue of the mystery of the
death and resurrection of Christ, of which the spouses are made part in a new
way by marriage, conjugal love is purified and made holy: "This love the Lord
has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting and exalting gifts of
grace and of charity."[138]
The gift of Jesus Christ is not exhausted in the actual celebration of the
sacrament of marriage, but rather accompanies the married couple throughout
their lives. This fact is explicitly recalled by the Second Vatican Council when
it says that Jesus Christ "abides with them so that just as he loved the church
and handed himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with
perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal...For this reason, Christian
spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind
of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this
sacrament, as spouses fulfill their conjugal and family obligations they are
penetrated with the spirit of Christ, who fills their whole lives with faith,
hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance toward their own perfection as
well as toward their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the
glory of God."[139]
Christian spouses and parents are included in the universal call to sanctity.
For them this call is specified by the sacrament they have celebrated and is
carried out concretely in the realities proper to their conjugal and family
life.[140] This gives rise to the grace and requirement of an authentic and
profound conjugal and family spirituality that draws its inspiration from the
themes of creation, covenant, cross, resurrection and sign, which were stressed
more than once by the synod.
Christian marriage, like the other sacraments, "whose purpose is to sanctify
people, to build up the body of Christ, and finally, to give worship to
God,"[141] is in itself a liturgical action glorifying God in Jesus Christ and
in the church. By celebrating it, Christian spouses profess their gratitude to
God for the sublime gift bestowed on them of being able to live in their married
and family lives the very love of God for people and that of the Lord Jesus for
the church, his bride.
Just as husbands and wives receive from the sacrament the gift and
responsibility of translating into daily living the sanctification bestowed on
them, so the same sacrament confers on them the grace and moral obligation of
transforming their whole lives into a "spiritual sacrifice."[142] What the
council says of the laity applies also to Christian spouses and parents,
especially with regard to the earthly and temporal realities that characterize
their lives: "As worshippers leading holy lives in every place, the laity
consecrate the world itself to God."[143]
57. The Christian family's sanctifying role is grounded in baptism and has its
highest expression in the eucharist, to which Christian marriage is intimately
connected. The Second Vatican Council drew attention to the unique relationship
between the eucharist and marriage by requesting that "marriage normally be
celebrated within the Mass."[144] To understand better and live more intensely
the graces and responsibilities of Christian marriage and family life, it is
altogether necessary to rediscover and strengthen this relationship.
The eucharist is the very source of Christian marriage. The eucharistic
sacrifice in fact represents Christ's covenant of love with the church, sealed
with his blood on the cross.[145] In this sacrifice of the new and eternal
covenant, Christian spouses encounter the source from which their own marriage
covenant flows, is interiorly structured and continuously renewed. As a
representation of Christ's sacrifice of love for the church, the eucharist is a
fountain of charity. In the eucharistic gift of charity the Christian family
finds the foundation and soul of its "communion" and its "mission": By partaking
in the eucharistic bread, the different members of the Christian family become
one body, which reveals and shares in the wider unity of the church. Their
sharing in the body of Christ that is "given up" and in his blood that is "shed"
becomes a never-ending source of missionary and apostolic dynamism for the
Christian family.
58. An essential and permanent part of the Christian family's sanctifying role
consists in accepting the call to conversion that the Gospel addresses to all
Christians, who do not always remain faithful to the "newness" of the baptism
that constitutes them "saints." The Christian family too is sometimes unfaithful
to the law of baptismal grace and holiness proclaimed anew in the sacrament of
marriage.
Repentance and mutual pardon within the bosom of the Christian family, so much a
part of daily life, receive their specific sacramental expression in Christian
penance. In the encyclical Humanae Vitae, Paul VI wrote of married couples: "And
if sin should still keep its hold over them, let them not be discouraged, but
rather have recourse with humble perseverance to the mercy of God, which is
abundantly poured forth in the sacrament of penance."[146]
The celebration of this sacrament acquires special significance for family life.
While they discover in faith that sin contradicts not only the covenant with
God, but also the covenant between husband and wife and the communion of the
family, the married couple and the other members of the family are led to an
encounter with God, who is "rich in mercy,"[147] who bestows on them his love
which is more powerful than sin,[148] and who reconstructs and brings to
perfection the marriage covenant and the family communion.
59. The church prays for the Christian family and educates the family to live in
generous accord with the priestly gift and role received from Christ the high
priest. In effect, the baptismal priesthood of the faithful exercised in the
sacrament of marriage constitutes the basis of a priestly vocation and mission
for the spouses and family by which their daily lives are transformed into
"spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."[149] This
transformation is achieved not only by celebrating the eucharist and the other
sacraments and through offering themselves to the glory of God, but also through
a life of prayer, through prayerful dialogue with the Father, through Jesus
Christ, in the Holy Spirit.
Family prayer has its own characteristic qualities. It is prayer offered in
common, husband and wife together, parents and children together. Communion in
prayer is both a consequence of and a requirement for the communion bestowed by
the sacraments of baptism and matrimony. The words with which the Lord Jesus
promises his presence can be applied to the members of the Christian family in a
special way: "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything
they ask it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three
are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."[150]
Family prayer has for its very own object family life itself, which in all its
varying circumstances is seen as a call from God and lived as a filial response
to his call. Joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, births and birthday
celebrations, wedding anniversaries of the parents, departures, separations and
homecomings, important and far-reaching decisions, the death of those who are
dear, etc.--all of these mark God's loving intervention in the family's history.
They should be seen as suitable moments for thanksgiving, for petition, for
trusting abandonment of the family into the hands of their common Father in
heaven. The dignity and responsibility of the Christian family as the domestic
church can be achieved only with God's unceasing aid, which will surely be
granted if it is humbly and trustingly petitioned in prayer.
60. By reason of their dignity and mission, Christian parents have the specific
responsibility of educating their children in prayer, introducing them to
gradual discovery of the mystery of God and to personal dialogue with him: "It
is particularly in the Christian family, enriched by the grace and the office of
the sacrament of matrimony, that from the earliest years children should be
taught, according to the faith received in baptism, to have a knowledge of God,
to worship him and to love their neighbor."[151]
The concrete example and living witness of parents is fundamental and
irreplaceable in educating their children to pray. Only by praying together with
their children can a father and mother--exercising their royal
priesthood--penetrate the innermost depths of their children's hearts and leave
an impression that the future events in their lives will not be able to efface.
Let us again listen to the appeal made by Paul VI to parents: "Mothers, do you
teach your children the Christian prayers? Do you prepare them, in conjunction
with the priests, for the sacraments that they receive when they are young:
confession, communion and confirmation? Do you encourage them when they are sick
to think of Christ suffering, to invoke the aid of the Blessed Virgin and the
saints? Do you say the family rosary together? And you, fathers, do you pray
with your children, with the whole domestic community, at least sometimes? Your
example of honesty in thought and action, joined to some common prayer, is a
lesson for life, an act of worship of singular value. In this way you bring
peace to your homes: Par huic domui. Remember, it is thus that you build up the
church."[152]
61. There exists a deep and vital bond between the prayer of the church and the
prayer of the individual faithful as has been clearly reaffirmed by the Second
Vatican Council.[153] An important purpose of the prayer of the domestic church
is to serve as the natural introduction for the children to the liturgical
prayer of the whole church, both in the sense of preparing for it and of
extending it into personal, family and social life. Hence the need for gradual
participation by all the members of the Christian family in the celebration of
the eucharist, especially on Sundays and feast days, and of the other
sacraments, particularly the sacraments of Christian initiation of the children.
The directives of the council opened up a new possibility for the Christian
family when it listed the family among those groups to whom it recommends the
recitation of the Divine Office in common.[154] Likewise, the Christian family
will strive to celebrate at home and in a way suited to the members the times
and feasts of the liturgical year.
As preparation for the worship celebrated in church and as its prolongation in
the home, the Christian family makes use of private prayer, which presents a
great variety of forms. While this variety testifies to the extraordinary
richness with which the spirit vivifies Christian prayer, it serves also to meet
the various needs and life situations of those who turn to the Lord in prayer.
Apart from morning and evening prayers, certain forms of prayer are to be
expressly encouraged, following the indications of the synod fathers, such as
reading and meditating on the word of God, preparation for the reception of the
sacraments, devotion and consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the various
forms of veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grace before and after meals and
observance of popular devotions.
While respecting the freedom of the children of God, the church has always
proposed certain practices of piety to the faithful with particular solicitude
and insistence. Among these should be mentioned the recitation of the rosary:
"We now desire, as a continuation of the thought of our predecessors, to
recommend strongly the recitation of the family rosary . . . There is no doubt
that . . . the rosary should be considered as one of the best and most
efficacious prayers in common that the Christian family is invited to recite. We
like to think and sincerely hope that when the family gathering becomes a time
of prayer the rosary is a frequent and favored manner of praying."[155] In this
way authentic devotion to Mary, which finds expression in sincere love and
generous imitation of the Blessed Virgin's interior spiritual attitude,
constitutes a special instrument for nourishing loving communion in the family
and for developing conjugal and family spirituality. For she who is the mother
of Christ and of the church is in a special way the mother of Christian
families, of domestic churches.
62. It should never be forgotten that prayer constitutes an essential part of
Christian life, understood in its fullness and centrality. Indeed, prayer is an
important part of our very humanity: It is "the first expression of man's inner
truth, the first condition for authentic freedom of spirit."[156]
Far from being a form of escapism from everyday commitments, prayer constitutes
the strongest incentive for the Christian family to assume and comply fully with
all its responsibilities as the primary and fundamental cell of human society.
Thus the Christian family's actual participation in the church's life and
mission is in direct proportion to the fidelity and intensity of the prayer with
which it is united with the fruitful vine that is Christ the Lord.[157]
The fruitfulness of the Christian family in its specific service to human
advancement, which of itself cannot but lead to the transformation of the world,
derives from its living union with Christ, nourished by the liturgy, by
self-oblation and by prayer.[158]
C. The Christian family as a community at the service of man
63. The church, a prophetic, priestly and kingly people, is endowed with the
mission of bringing all human beings to accept the word of God in faith, to
celebrate and profess it in the sacraments and in prayer, and to give expression
to it in the concrete realities of life in accordance with the gift and new
commandment of love.
The law of Christian life is to be found not in a written code, but in the
personal action of the Holy Spirit who inspires and guides the Christian. It is
the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus":[159] "God's love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."[160]
This is true also for the Christian couple and family. Their guide and rule of
life is the Spirit of Jesus poured into their hearts in the celebration of the
sacrament of matrimony. In continuity with baptism in water and the Spirit,
marriage sets forth anew the evangelical law of love, and with the gift of the
Spirit engraves it more profoundly on the hearts of Christian husbands and
wives. Their love, purified and saved, is a fruit of the Spirit acting in the
hearts of believers and constituting, at the same time, the fundamental
commandment of their moral life to be lived in responsible freedom.
Thus the Christian family is inspired and guided by the new law of the Spirit
and, in intimate communion with the church, the kingly people, it is called to
exercise its "service" of love toward God and toward its fellow human beings.
Just as Christ exercises his royal power by serving us,[161] so also the
Christian finds the authentic meaning of his participation in the kingship of
his Lord in sharing his spirit and practice of service to man. "Christ has
communicated this power to his disciples that they might be established in royal
freedom and that by self-denial and a holy life they might conquer the reign of
sin in themselves (cf. Rom. 6:12). Further, he has shared this power so that by
serving him in their fellow human beings they might through humility and
patience lead their brothers and sisters to that King whom to serve is to reign.
For the Lord wishes to spread his kingdom by means of the laity also, a kingdom
of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love
and peace. In this kingdom, creation itself will be delivered out of its slavery
to corruption and into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (cf. Rom.
8:21)"[162]
64. Inspired and sustained by the new commandment of love, the Christian family
welcomes, respects and serves every human being, considering each one in his or
her dignity as a person and as a child of God.
It should be so especially between husband and wife and within the family,
through a daily effort to promote a truly personal community, initiated and
fostered by an inner communion of love. This way of life should then be extended
to the wider circle of the ecclesial community of which the Christian family is
a part.
Thanks to love within the family, the church can and ought to take on a more
homelike or family dimension, developing a more human and fraternal style of
relationships.
Love, too, goes beyond our brothers and sisters of the same faith since
"everybody is my brother or sister." In each individual, especially in the poor,
the weak and those who suffer or are unjustly treated, love knows how to
discover the face of Christ, and discover a fellow human being to be loved and
served.
In order that the family may serve man in a truly evangelical way, the
instructions of the Second Vatican Council must be carefully put into practice:
"That the exercise of such charity may rise above any deficiencies in fact and
even in appearance, certain fundamentals must be observed. Thus attention is to
be paid to the image of God in which our neighbor has been created, and also to
Christ the Lord to whom is really offered whatever is given to a needy
person."[163]
While building up the church in love, the Christian family places itself at the
service of the human person and the world, really bringing about the "human
advancement" whose substance was given in summary form in the synod's message to
families: "Another task for the family is to form persons in love and also to
practice love in all its relationships, so that it does not live closed in on
itself, but remains open to the community, moved by a sense of justice and
concern for others, as well as by a consciousness of its responsibility toward
the whole of society."[164]
65. Like every other living reality, the family too is called upon to develop
and grow. After the preparation of engagement and the sacramental celebration of
marriage, the couple begin their daily journey toward the progressive actuation
of the values and duties of marriage itself.
In the light of faith and by virtue of hope, the Christian family, too, shares
in communion with the church and in the experience of the earthly pilgrimage
toward the full revelation and manifestation of the kingdom of God.
Therefore, it must be emphasized once more that the pastoral intervention of the
church in support of the family is a matter of urgency. Every effort should be
made to strengthen and develop pastoral care for the family, which should be
treated as a real matter of priority, in the certainty that future
evangelization depends largely on the domestic church.[165]
The church's pastoral concern will not be limited only to the Christian families
closest at hand; it will extend its horizons in harmony with the heart of Christ
and will show itself to be even more lively for families in general and for
those families in particular which are in difficult or irregular situations. For
all of them the church will have a word of truth, goodness, understanding, hope
and deep sympathy with their sometimes tragic difficulties. To all of them she
will offer her disinterested help so that they can come closer to that model of
a family which the creator intended from "the beginning" and which Christ has
renewed with his redeeming grace.
The church's pastoral action must be progressive also in the sense that it must
follow the family, accompanying it step by step in the different stages of its
formation and development.
66. More than ever necessary in our times is preparation of young people for
marriage and family life. In some countries it is still the families themselves
that, according to ancient customs, ensure the passing on to young people of the
values concerning married and family life, and they do this through a gradual
process of education or initiation. But the changes that have taken place within
almost all modern societies demand that not only the family but also society and
the church should be involved in the effort of properly preparing young people
for their future responsibilities.
Many negative phenomena which are today noted with regret in family life derive
from the fact that in the new situations young people not only lose sight of the
correct hierarchy of values but, since they no longer have certain criteria of
behavior, they do not know how to face and deal with the new difficulties. But
experience teaches that young people who have been well prepared for family life
generally succeed better than others.
This is even more applicable to Christian marriage, which influences the
holiness of large numbers of men and women. The church must therefore promote
better and more intensive programs of marriage preparation in order to eliminate
as far as possible the difficulties that many married couples find themselves
in, and even more in order to favor positively the establishing and maturing of
successful marriages.
Marriage preparation has to be seen and put into practice as a gradual and
continuous process. It includes three main stages: remote, proximate and
immediate preparation.
Remote preparation begins in early childhood in that wise family training which
leads children to discover themselves as beings endowed with a rich and complex
psychology and with a particular personality with its own strengths and
weaknesses. It is the period when esteem for all authentic human values is
instilled, both in interpersonal and in social relationships, with all that this
signifies for the formation of character, for the control and right use of one's
inclinations, for the manner of regarding and meeting people of the opposite
sex, and so on. Also necessary, especially for Christians, is solid spiritual
and catechetical formation that will show that marriage is a true vocation and
mission, without excluding the possibility of the total gift of self to God in
the vocation to the priestly or religious life.
Upon this basis there will subsequently and gradually be built up the proximate
preparation, which--from the suitable age and with adequate catechesis, as in a
catechumenal process--involves a more specific preparation for the sacraments,
as it were, a rediscovery of them. This renewed catechesis of young people and
others preparing for Christian marriage is absolutely necessary in order that
the sacrament may be celebrated and lived with the right moral and spiritual
dispositions. The religious formation of young people should be integrated, at
the right moment and in accordance with the various concrete requirements, with
a preparation for life as a couple. This preparation will present marriage as an
interpersonal relationship of a man and a woman that has to be continually
developed, and it will encourage those concerned to study the nature of conjugal
sexuality and responsible parenthood, with the essential medical and biological
knowledge connected with it. It will also acquaint those concerned with correct
methods for the education of children and will assist them in gaining the basic
requisites for well-ordered family life, such as stable work, sufficient
financial resources, sensible administration, notions of housekeeping.
Finally, one must not overlook preparation for the family apostolate, for
fraternal solidarity and collaboration with other families, for active
membership in groups, associations, movements and undertakings set up for the
human and Christian benefit of the family.
The immediate preparation for the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony
should take place in the months and weeks immediately preceding the wedding so
as to give a new meaning, content and form to the so-called premarital inquiry
required by canon law. This preparation is not only necessary in every case, but
is also more urgently needed for engaged couples that still manifest
shortcomings or difficulties in Christian doctrine and practice.
Among the elements to be instilled in this journey of faith, which is similar to
the catechumenate, there must also be a deeper knowledge of the mystery of
Christ and the church, of the meaning of grace and of the responsibility of
Christian marriage, as well as preparation for taking an active and conscious
part in the rites of the marriage liturgy.
The Christian family and the whole of the ecclesial community should feel
involved in the different phases of the preparation for marriage which have been
described only in their broad outlines. It is to be hoped that the episcopal
conferences, just as they are concerned with appropriate initiatives to help
engaged couples to be more aware of the seriousness of their choice and also to
help pastors of souls to make sure of the couples' proper dispositions, so they
will also take steps to see that there is issued a directory for the pastoral
care of the family. In this they should lay down in the first place, the minimum
content, duration and method of the "preparation courses," balancing the
different aspects--doctrinal, pedagogical, legal and medical--concerning
marriage and structuring them in such a way that those preparing for marriage
will not only receive an intellectual training, but will also feel a desire to
enter actively into the ecclesial community.
Although one must not underestimate the necessity and obligation of the
immediate preparation for marriage--which would happen if dispensations from it
were easily given--nevertheless such preparation must always be set forth and
put into practice in such a way that omitting it is not an impediment to the
celebration of marriage.
67. Christian marriage normally requires a liturgical celebration expressing in
social and community form the essentially ecclesial and sacramental nature of
the conjugal covenant between baptized persons.
Inasmuch as it is a sacramental action of sanctification, the celebration of
marriage--inserted into the liturgy, which is the summit of the church's action
and the source of her sanctifying power[166]--must be per se valid, worthy and
fruitful. This opens a wide field for pastoral solicitude, in order that the
needs deriving from the nature of the conjugal covenant, elevated into a
sacrament, may be fully met and also in order that the church's discipline
regarding free consent, impediments, the canonical form and the actual rite of
the celebration may be faithfully observed. The celebration should be simple and
dignified, according to the norms of the competent authorities of the church. It
is also for them--in accordance with concrete circumstances of time and place
and in conformity with the norms issued by the Apostolic See[167]--to include in
the liturgical celebration such elements proper to each culture which serve to
express more clearly the profound human and religious significance of the
marriage contract, provided that such elements contain nothing that is not in
harmony with Christian faith and morality.
Inasmuch as it is a sign, the liturgical celebration should be conducted in such
a way as to constitute, also in its external reality, a proclamation of the word
of God and a profession of faith on the part of the community of believers,
Pastoral commitment will be expressed here through the intelligent and careful
preparation of the liturgy of the word and through the education to faith of
those participating in the celebration and in the first place the couple being
married.
Inasmuch as it is a sacramental action of the church, the liturgical celebration
of marriage should involve the Christian community, with the full, active and
responsible participation of all those present, according to the place and task
of each individual: the bride and bridegroom, the priest, the witnesses, the
relatives, the friends, the other members of the faithful, all of them members
of an assembly that manifests and lives the mystery of Christ and His church.
For the celebration of Christian marriage in the sphere of ancestral cultures or
traditions, the principles laid down above should be followed.
68. Precisely because in the celebration of the sacrament very special attention
must be devoted to the moral and spiritual dispositions of those being married,
in particular to their faith, we must here deal with a not infrequent difficulty
in which the pastors of the church can find themselves in the context of our
secularized society.
In fact, the faith of the person asking the church for marriage can exist in
different degrees, and it is the primary duty of pastors to bring about a
rediscovery of this faith and to nourish it and bring it to maturity. But
pastors must also understand the reasons that lead the church also to admit to
the celebration of marriage those who are imperfectly disposed.
The sacrament of matrimony has this specific element that distinguishes it from
all the other sacraments: It is the sacrament of something that was part of the
very economy of creation; it is the very conjugal covenant instituted by the
Creator "in the beginning." Therefore the decision of a man and a woman to marry
in accordance with this divine plan, that is to say, the decision to commit by
their irrevocable conjugal consent their whole lives in indissoluble love and
unconditional fidelity, really involves, even if not in a fully conscious way,
an attitude of profound obedience to the will of God, an attitude which cannot
exist without God's grace. They have thus already begun what is in a true and
proper sense a journey toward salvation, a journey which the celebration of the
sacrament and the immediate preparation for it can complement and bring to
completion, given the uprightness of their intention.
On the other hand it is true that in some places engaged couples ask to be
married in church for motives which are social rather than genuinely religious.
This is not surprising. Marriage, in fact, is not an event that concerns only
the persons actually getting married. By its very nature it is also a social
matter, committing the couple being married in the eyes of society. And its
celebration has always been an occasion of rejoicing that brings together
families and friends. It therefore goes without saying that social as well as
personal motives enter into the request to be married in church.
Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that these engaged couples by virtue of
their baptism are already really sharers in Christ's marriage covenant with the
church, and that, by their right intention, they have accepted God's plan
regarding marriage and therefore, at least implicitly, consent to what the
church intends to do when she celebrates marriage. Thus the fact that motives of
a social nature also enter into the request is not enough to justify refusal on
the part of pastors. Moreover, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, the
sacraments by words and ritual elements nourish and strengthen faith:[168] that
faith toward which the married couple are already journeying by reason of the
uprightness of their intention, which Christ's grace certainly does not fail to
favor and support.
As for wishing to lay down further criteria for admission to the ecclesial
celebration of marriage, criteria that would concern the level of faith of those
to be married, this would above all involve grave risks. In the first place, the
risk of making unfounded and discriminatory judgments; second, the risk of
causing doubts about the validity of marriages already celebrated, with grave
harm to Christian communities and new and unjustified anxieties to the
consciences of married couples; one would also fall into the danger of calling
into question the sacramental nature of many marriages of brethren separated
from full communion with the Catholic Church, thus contradicting ecclesial
tradition.
However, when in spite of all efforts engaged couples show that they reject
explicitly and formally what the church intends to do when the marriage of
baptized persons is celebrated, the pastor of souls cannot admit them to the
celebration of marriage. In spite of his reluctance to do so, he has the duty to
take note of the situation and to make it clear to those concerned that in these
circumstances it is not the church that is placing an obstacle in the way of the
celebration that they are asking for, but themselves.
Once more there appears in all its urgency the need for evangelization and
catechesis before and after marriage, effected by the whole Christian community,
so that every man and woman that gets married celebrates the sacrament of
matrimony not only validly but also fruitfully.
69. The pastoral care of the regularly established family signifies, in
practice, the commitment of all the members of the local ecclesial community to
helping the couple to discover and live their new vocation and mission. In order
that the family may be ever more a true community of love, it is necessary that
all its members should be helped and trained in their responsibilities as they
face the new problems that arise, in mutual service and in active sharing in
family life.
This holds true especially for young families, which, finding themselves in a
context of new values and responsibilities, are more vulnerable, especially in
the first years of marriage, to possible difficulties such as those created by
adaptation to life together or by the birth of children. Young married couples
should learn to accept willingly and make good use of the discreet, tactful and
generous help offered by other couples that already have more experience of
married and family life. Thus within the ecclesial community--the great family
made up of Christian familiesthere will take place a mutual exchange of presence
and help among all the families, each one putting at the service of the others
its own experience of life, as well as the gifts of faith and grace. Animated by
a true apostolic spirit, this assistance from family to family will constitute
one of the simplest, most effective and most accessible means for transmitting
from one to another those Christian values which are both the starting point and
goal of all pastoral care. Thus young families will not limit themselves merely
to receiving, but in their turn, having been helped in this way, will become a
source of enrichment for other longer established families through their witness
of life and practical contribution.
In her pastoral care of young families the church must also pay special
attention to helping them to live married love responsibly in relationship with
its demands of communion and service to life. She must likewise help them to
harmonize the intimacy of home life with the generous shared work of building up
the church and society. When children are born and the married couple becomes a
family in the full and specific sense, the church will still remain close to the
parents in order that they may accept their children and love them as a gift
received from the Lord of life and joyfully accept the task of serving them in
their human and Christian growth.
Pastoral activity is always the dynamic expression of the reality of the church,
committed to her mission of salvation. Family pastoral care too--which is a
particular and specific form of pastoral activity--has as its operative
principle and responsible agent the church herself, through her structures and
workers.
70. The ecclesial community and in particular the parish
The church, which is at the same time a saved and a saving community, has to be
considered here under two aspects: as universal and particular. The second
aspect is expressed and actuated in the diocesan community, which is pastorally
divided up into lesser communities of which the parish is of special importance.
Communion with the universal church does not hinder, but rather guarantees and
promotes the substance and originality of the various particular churches. These
latter remain the more immediate and more effective subjects of operation for
putting the pastoral care of the family into practice. In this sense every local
church and, in more particular terms, every parochial community must become more
vividly aware of the grace and responsibility that it receives from the Lord in
order that it may promote the pastoral care of the family. No plan of organized
pastoral work at any level must ever fail to take into consideration the
pastoral area of the family.
Also to be seen in the light of this responsibility is the importance of the
proper preparation of all those who will be more specifically engaged in this
kind of apostolate. Priests and men and women religious from the time of their
formation should be oriented and trained progressively and thoroughly for the
various tasks. Among the various initiatives I am pleased to emphasize the
recent establishment in Rome, at the Pontifical Lateran University, of a higher
institute for the study of the problems of the family. Institutes of this kind
have also been set up in some dioceses. Bishops should see to it that as many
priests as possible attend specialized courses there before taking on parish
responsibilities. Elsewhere, formation courses are periodically held at higher
institutes of theological and pastoral studies. Such initiatives should be
encouraged, sustained, increased in number, and of course are also open to lay
people who intend to use their professional skills (medical, legal,
psychological, social or educational) to help the family.
71. But it is especially necessary to recognize the unique place that in this
field belongs to the mission of married couples and Christian families by virtue
of the grace received in the sacrament. This mission must be placed at the
service of the building up of the church, the establishing of the kingdom of God
in history. This is demanded as an act of docile obedience to Christ the Lord.
For it is he who, by virtue of the fact that marriage of baptized persons has
been raised to a sacrament, confers upon Christian married couples a special
mission as apostles, sending them as workers into his vineyard and in a very
special way into this field of the family.
In this activity married couples act in communion and collaboration with the
other members of the church, who also work for the family, contributing their
own gifts and ministries. This apostolate will be exercised in the first place
within the families of those concerned, through the witness of a life lived in
conformity with the divine law in all its aspects, through the Christian
formation of the children, through helping them to mature in faith, through
education to chastity, through preparation for life, through vigilance in
protecting them from the ideological and moral dangers with which they are often
threatened, through their gradual and responsible inclusion in the ecclesial
community and the civil community, through help and advice in choosing a
vocation, through mutual help among family members for human and Christian
growth together, and so on. The apostolate of the family will also become wider
through works of spiritual and material charity toward other families,
especially those most in need of help and support, toward the poor, the sick,
the old, the handicapped, orphans, widows, spouses that have been abandoned,
unmarried mothers and mothers-to-be in difficult situations who are tempted to
have recourse to abortion, and so on.
72. Still within the church, which is the subject responsible for the pastoral
care of the family, mention should be made of the various groupings of members
of the faithful in which the mystery of Christ's church is in some measure
manifested and lived. One should therefore recognize and make good use of--each
one in relationship to its own characteristics, purposes, effectiveness and
methods--the different ecclesial communities, the various groups and the
numerous movements engaged in various ways, for different reasons and at
different levels, in the pastoral care of the family.
For this reason the synod expressly recognized the useful contribution made by
such associations of spirituality, formation and apostolate. It will be their
task to foster among the faithful a lively sense of solidarity, to favor a
manner of living inspired by the Gospel and by the faith of the church, to form
consciences according to Christian values and not according to the standards of
public opinion; to stimulate people to perform works of charity for one another
and for others with a spirit of openness which will make Christian families into
a true source of light and a wholesome leaven for other families.
It is similarly desirable that, with a lively sense of the common good,
Christian families should become actively engaged at every level in other
non-ecclesial associations as well. Some of these associations work for the
preservation, transmission and protection of the wholesome ethical and cultural
values of each people, the development of the human person, the medical,
juridical and social protection of mothers and young children, the just
advancement of women and the struggle against all that is detrimental to their
dignity, the increase of mutual solidarity, knowledge of the problems connected
with the responsible regulation of fertility in accordance with natural methods
that are in conformity with human dignity and the teaching of the church.
Other associations work for the building of a more just and human world; for the
promotion of just laws favoring the right social order with full respect for the
dignity and every legitimate freedom of the individual and the family on both
the national and the international level; for collaboration with the school and
with the other institutions that complete the education of children, and so
forth.
As well as the family, which is the object but above all the subject of pastoral
care of the family, one must also mention the other main agents in this
particular sector.
73. The person principally responsible in the diocese for the pastoral care of
the family is the bishop. As father and pastor, he must exercise particular
solicitude in this clearly priority sector of pastoral care. He must devote to
it personal interest, care, time, personnel and resources, but above all
personal support for the families and for all those who, in the various diocesan
structures, assist him in the pastoral care of the family.
It will be his particular care to make the diocese ever more truly a "diocesan
family," a model and source of hope for the many families that belong to it. The
setting up of the Pontifical Council for the family is to be seen in this light
to be a sign of the importance that I attribute to pastoral care for the family
in the world, and at the same time to be an effective instrument for aiding and
promoting it at every level.
The bishops avail themselves especially of the priests, whose task--as the synod
expressly emphasized--constitutes an essential part of the church's ministry
regarding marriage and the family. The same is true of deacons to whose care
this sector of pastoral work may be entrusted.
Their responsibility extends not only to moral and liturgical matters, but to
personal and social matters as well. They must support the family in its
difficulties and sufferings, caring for its members and helping them to see
their lives in the light of the Gospel. It is not superfluous to note that from
this mission, if it is exercised with due discernment and with a truly apostolic
spirit, the minister of the church draws fresh encouragement and spiritual
energy for his own vocation, too, and for the exercise of his ministry.
Priests and deacons, when they have received timely and serious preparation for
this apostolate, must unceasingly act toward families as fathers, brothers,
pastors and teachers, assisting them with the means of grace and enlightening
them with the light of truth. Their teaching and advice must therefore always be
in full harmony with the authentic magisterium of the church, in such a way as
to help the people of God to gain a correct sense of the faith to be
subsequently applied to practical life. Such fidelity to the magisterium will
also enable priests to make every effort to be united in their judgments in
order to avoid troubling the consciences of the faithful.
In the church, the pastors and the laity share in the prophetic mission of
Christ: The laity do so by witnessing to the faith by their words and by their
Christian lives; the pastors do so by distinguishing in that witness what is the
expression of genuine faith from what is less in harmony with the light of
faith; the family, as a Christian community, does so through its special sharing
and witness of faith.
Thus there begins a dialogue also between pastors and families. Theologians and
experts in family matters can be of great help in this dialogue. By explaining
exactly the content of the church's magisterium and the content of the
experience of family life. In this way the teaching of the magisterium becomes
better understood and the way is opened to its progressive development.
But it is useful to recall that the proximate and obligatory norm in the
teaching of the faith--also concerning family matters--belongs to the
hierarchical magisterium. Clearly defined relationships between theologians,
experts in family matters and the magisterium are of no little assistance for
the correct understanding of the faith and for promoting--within the boundaries
of the faith--legitimate pluralism.
74. The contribution that can be made to the apostolate of the family by men and
women religious and consecrated persons in general finds its primary,
fundamental and original expression precisely in their consecration to God. By
reason of this consecration, "for all Christ's faithful religious recall that
wonderful marriage made by God, which will be fully manifested in the future
age, and in which the church has Christ for her only spouse,"[169] and they are
witnesses to that universal charity which, through chastity embraced for the
kingdom of heaven, makes them every more available to dedicate themselves
generously to the service of God and to the works of the apostolate.
Hence the possibility for men and women religious and members of secular
institutes and other institutes of perfection, either individually or in groups,
to develop their service to families, with particular solicitude for children,
especially if they are abandoned, unwanted, orphaned, poor or handicapped. They
can also visit families and look after the sick; they can foster relationships
of respect and charity toward one-parent families or families that are in
difficulties or are separated; they can offer their own work of teaching and
counseling in the preparation of young people for marriage and in helping
couples toward truly responsible parenthood; they can open their own houses for
simple and cordial hospitality so that families can find there the sense of
God's presence and gain a taste for prayer and recollection and see the
practical examples of lives lived in charity and fraternal joy as members of the
larger family of God.
I would like to add a most pressing exhortation to the heads of institutes of
consecrated life to consider--always with substantial respect for the proper and
original charism of each one--the apostolate of the family as one of the
priority tasks rendered even more urgent by the present state of the world.
75. Considerable help can be given to families by lay specialists (doctors,
lawyers, psychologists, social workers, consultants, etc.) who either as
individuals or as members of various associations and undertakings offer their
contribution of enlightenment, advice, orientation and support. To these people
one can well apply the exhortations that I had the occasion to address to the
Confederation of Family Advisory Bureaus of Christian Inspiration:
"Yours is a commitment that well deserves the title of mission, so noble are the
aims that it pursues, and so determining, for the good of society and the
Christian community itself, are the results that derive from it . . All that you
succeed in doing to support the family is destined to have an effectiveness that
goes beyond its own sphere and reaches other people too, and has an effect on
society. The future of the world and of the church passes through the
family."[170]
76. This very important category in modern life deserves a word of its own. It
is well known that the means of social communication "affect, and often
profoundly, the minds of those who use them, under the affective and
intellectual aspect and also under the moral and religious aspect," especially
in the case of young people.[171] They can thus exercise a beneficial influence
on the life and habits of the family and on the education of children, but at
the same time they also conceal "snares and dangers that cannot be
ignored."[172] They could also become a vehicle--sometimes cleverly and
systematically manipulated, as unfortunately happens in various countries of the
world--for divisive ideologies and distorted ways of looking at life, the
family, religion and morality, attitudes that lack respect for man's true
dignity and destiny.
This danger is all the more real inasmuch as "the modern lifestyle--especially
in the more industrialized nations--all too often causes families to abandon
their responsibility to educate their children. Evasion of this duty is made
easy for them by the presence of television and certain publications in the
home, and in this way they keep their children's time and energies
occupied."[173] Hence "the duty...to protect the young from the forms of
aggression they are subjected to by the mass media," and to ensure that the use
of the media in the family is carefully regulated. Families should also take
care to seek for their children other forms of entertainment that are more
wholesome, useful and physically, morally and spiritually formative, "to develop
and use to advantage the free time of the young and direct their energies."[174]
Furthermore, because the means of social communication, like the school and the
environment, often have a notable influence on the formation of children,
parents as recipients must actively ensure the moderate, critical, watchful and
prudent use of the media by discovering what effect they have on their children
and by controlling the use of media in such a way as to "train the conscience of
their children to express calm and objective judgments, which will then guide
them in the choice or rejection of programs available."[175]
With equal commitment parents will endeavor to influence the selection and the
preparation of the programs themselves by keeping in contact--through suitable
initiatives--with those in charge of the various phases of production and
transmission. In this way they will ensure that the fundamental human values
that form part of the true good of society are not ignored or deliberately
attacked. Rather they will ensure the broadcasting of programs that present in
the right light family problems and their proper solution. In this regard my
venerated predecessor Paul VI wrote:
"Producers must know and respect the needs of the family, and this sometimes
presupposes in them true courage, and always a high sense of responsibility. In
fact they are expected to avoid anything that could harm the family in its
existence, its stability, its balance and its happiness. Every attack on the
fundamental value of the family--meaning eroticism or violence, the defense of
divorce or of anti-social attitudes among young people--is an attack on the true
good of man."[176]
I myself, on a similar occasion, pointed out that families "to a considerable
extent need to be able to count on the good will, integrity and sense of
responsibility of the media professionals--publishers, writers, producers,
directors, playwrights, newsmen, commentators and actors."[177] It is therefore
also the duty of the church to continue to devote every care to these
categories, at the same time encouraging and supporting Catholics who feel the
call and have the necessary talents to take up this sensitive type of work.
77. An even more generous, intelligent and prudent pastoral commitment, modeled
on the Good Shepherd, is called for in the case of families which, often
independently of their own wishes and through pressures of various other kinds,
find themselves faced by situations which are objectively difficult.
In this regard it is necessary to call special attention to certain particular
groups which are more in need not only of assistance but also of more incisive
action upon public opinion and especially upon cultural, economic and juridical
structures, in order that the profound causes of their needs may be eliminated
as far as possible.
Such, for example, are the families of migrant workers; the families of those
obliged to be away for long periods, such as members of the armed forces,
sailors and all kinds of itinerant people; the families of those in prison, of
refugees and exiles; the families in big cities living, practically speaking, as
outcasts; families with no home; incomplete or single-parent families; families
with children that are handicapped or addicted to drugs; the families of
alcoholics; families that have been uprooted from their cultural and social
environment or are in danger of losing it; families discriminated against for
political or other reasons; families that are ideologically divided; families
that are unable to make ready contact with the parish; families experiencing
violence or unjust treatment because of their faith; teen-age married couples;
the elderly, who are often obliged to live alone with inadequate means of
subsistence.
The families of migrants, especially in the case of manual workers and farm
workers, should be able to find a homeland everywhere in the church. This is a
task stemming from the nature of the church, as being the sign of unity in
diversity. As far as possible these people should be looked after by priests of
their own rite, culture and language. It is also the church's task to appeal to
the public conscience and to all those in authority in social, economic and
political life, in order that workers may find employment in their own regions
and homelands, that they may receive just wages, that their families may be
reunited as soon as possible, be respected in their cultural identity and
treated on an equal footing with others, and that their children may be given
the chance to learn a trade and exercise it, as also the chance to own the land
needed for working and living.
A difficult problem is that of the family which is ideologically divided. In
these cases particular pastoral care is needed. In the first place it is
necessary to maintain tactful personal contact with such families. The believing
members must be strengthened in their faith and supported in their Christian
lives. Although the party faithful to Catholicism cannot give way, dialogue with
the other party must always be kept alive. Love and respect must be freely shown
in the firm hope that unity will be maintained. Much also depends on the
relationship between parents and children. Moreover, ideologies which are alien
to the faith can stimulate the believing members of the family to grow in faith
and in the witness of love.
Other difficult circumstances in which the family needs the help of the
ecclesial community and its pastors are: the children's adolescence, which can
be disturbed, rebellious and sometimes stormy; the children's marriage, which
takes them away from their family; lack of understanding or lack of love on the
part of those held most dear; abandonment by one of the spouses or his or her
death, which brings the painful experience of widowhood, or the death of a
family member, which breaks up and deeply transforms the original family
nucleus.
Similarly, the church cannot ignore the time of old age with all its positive
and negative aspects. In old age married love, which has been increasingly
purified and ennobled by long and unbroken fidelity, can be deepened. There is
the opportunity of offering to others in a new form the kindness and the wisdom
gathered over the years and what energies remain. But there is also the burden
of loneliness, more often psychological and emotional rather than physical,
which results from abandonment or neglect on the part of children and relations.
There is also suffering caused by ill-health, by the gradual loss of strength,
by the humiliation of having to depend on others, by the sorrow of feeling that
one is perhaps a burden to one's loved ones, and by the approach of the end of
life. These are the circumstances in which, as the synod fathers suggested, it
is easier to help people understand and live the lofty aspects of the
spirituality of marriage and the family, aspects which take their inspiration
from the value of Christ's cross and resurrection, the source of sanctification
and profound happiness in daily life, in the light of the great eschatological
realities of eternal life.
In all these different situations let prayer, the source of light and strength
and the nourishment of Christian hope, never be neglected.
78. The growing number of mixed marriages between Catholics and other baptized
persons also calls for special pastoral attention in the light of the directives
and norms contained in the most recent documents of the Holy See and in those
drawn up by the episcopal conferences, in order to permit their practical
application to the various situations.
Couples living in a mixed marriage have special needs, which can be put under
three main headings.
In the first place, attention must be paid to the obligations that faith imposes
on the Catholic party with regard to the free exercise of the faith and the
consequent obligation to ensure, as far as is possible, the baptism and
upbringing of the children in the Catholic faith.[178]
There must be borne in mind the particular difficulties inherent in the
relationships between husband and wife with regard to respect for religious
freedom: This freedom could be violated either by undue pressure to make the
partner change his or her beliefs or by placing obstacles in the way of the free
manifestation of these beliefs by religious practice.
With regard to the liturgical and canonical form of marriage, ordinaries can
make wide use of their faculties to meet various necessities.
In dealing with these special needs, the following points should be kept in
mind: --In the appropriate preparation for this type of marriage every
reasonable effort must be made to ensure a proper understanding of Catholic
teaching on the qualities and obligations of marriage and also to ensure that
the pressures and obstacles mentioned above will not occur.
It is of the greatest importance that through the support of the community the
Catholic party should be strengthened in faith and positively helped to mature
in understanding and practicing that faith so as to become a credible witness
within the family through his or her own life and through the quality of love
shown to the other spouse and the children.
Marriages between Catholics and other baptized persons have their particular
nature, but they contain numerous elements that could well be made good use of
and developed, both for their intrinsic value and for the contribution that they
can make to the ecumenical movement. This is particularly true when both parties
are faithful to their religious duties. Their common baptism and the dynamism of
grace provide the spouses in these marriages with the basis and motivation for
expressing their unity in the sphere of moral and spiritual values.
For this purpose and also in order to highlight the ecumenical importance of
mixed marriages which are fully lived in the faith of the two Christian spouses
an effort should be made to establish cordial cooperation between the Catholic
and the non-Catholic ministers from the time that preparations begin for the
marriage and the wedding ceremony even though this does not always prove easy.
With regard to the sharing of the non-Catholic party in eucharistic communion,
the norms issued by the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity should be
followed.[179]
Today in many parts of the world marriages between Catholics and non-baptized
persons are growing in numbers. In many such marriages the non-baptized partner
professes another religion and his beliefs are to be treated with respect in
accordance with the principles set out in the Second Vatican Council's
declaration Nostra Aetate on relations with non-Christian religions. But in many
other such marriages, particularly in secularized societies, the non-baptized
person professes no religion at all. In these marriages there is a need for
episcopal conferences and for individual bishops to ensure that there are proper
pastoral safeguards for the faith of the Catholic partner and for the free
exercise of his faith, above all in regard to his duty to do all in his power to
ensure the Catholic baptism and education of the children of the marriage.
Likewise the Catholic must be assisted in every possible way to offer within his
family a genuine witness to the Catholic faith and to Catholic life.
79. In its solicitude to protect the family in all its dimensions, not only the
religious one, the Synod of Bishops did not fail to take into careful
consideration certain situations which are irregular in a religious sense and
often in the civil sense too. Such situations, as a result of today's rapid
cultural changes, are unfortunately becoming widespread also among Catholics
with no little damage to the very institution of the family and to society, of
which the family constitutes the basic cell.
80. A first example of an irregular situation is provided by what are called
"trial marriages," which many people today would like to justify by attributing
a certain value to them. But human reason leads one to see that they are
unacceptable, by showing the unconvincing nature of carrying out an "experiment"
with human beings, whose dignity demands that they should be always and solely
the term of a self-giving love without limitations of time or of any other
circumstance.
The church, for her part, cannot admit such a kind of union for further and
original reasons which derive from faith. For, in the first place, the gift of
the body in the sexual relationship is a real symbol of the giving of the whole
person: Such a giving, moreover, in the present state of things cannot take
place with full truth without the concourse of the love of charity, given by
Christ. In the second place, marriage between two baptized persons is a real
symbol of the union of Christ and the church, which is not a temporary or
"trial" union, but one which is eternally faithful. Therefore between two
baptized persons there can exist only an indissoluble marriage.
Such a situation cannot usually be overcome unless the human person from
childhood, with the help of Christ's grace and without fear, has been trained to
dominate concupiscence from the beginning and to establish relationships of
genuine love with other people. This cannot be secured without a true education
in genuine love and in the right use of sexuality, such as to introduce the
human person in every aspect, and therefore the bodily aspect too, into the
fullness of the mystery of Christ.
It will be very useful to investigate the causes of this phenomenon, including
its psychological and sociological aspect, in order to find the proper remedy.
81. This means unions without any publicly recognized institutional bond, either
civil or religious. This phenomenon, which is becoming ever more frequent,
cannot fail to concern pastors of souls, also because it may be based on widely
varying factors, the consequences of which may perhaps be containable by
suitable action.
Some people consider themselves almost forced into a free union by difficult
economic, cultural or religious situations, on the grounds that if they would be
exposed to some form of harm, would lose economic advantages, would be
discriminated against, etc. In other cases, however, one encounters people who
scorn, rebel against or reject society, the institution of the family and the
social and political order, or who are solely seeking pleasure. Then there are
those who are driven to such situations by extreme ignorance or poverty,
sometimes by a conditioning due to situations of real injustice or by a certain
psychological immaturity that makes them uncertain or afraid to enter into a
stable and definitive union. In some countries traditional customs presume that
the true and proper marriage will take place only after a period of cohabitation
and the birth of the first child.
Each of these elements presents the church with arduous pastoral problems, by
reason of the serious consequences deriving from them, both religious and moral
(the loss of the religious sense of marriage seen in the light of the covenant
of God with his people; deprivation of the grace of the sacrament; grave
scandal) and also social consequences (the destruction of the concept of the
family; the weakening of the sense of fidelity, also toward society; possible
psychological damage to the children; the strengthening of selfishness).
The pastors and the ecclesial community should take care to become acquainted
with such situations and their actual causes, case by case. They should make
tactful and respectful contact with the couples concerned and enlighten them
patiently, correct them charitably and show them the witness of Christian family
life in such a way as to smooth the path for them to regularize their situation.
But above all there must be a campaign of prevention, by fostering the sense of
fidelity in the whole moral and religious training of the young, instructing
them concerning the conditions and structures that favor such fidelity, without
which there is no true freedom; they must be helped to reach spiritual maturity
and enabled to understand the rich human and supernatural reality of marriage as
a sacrament.
82. There are increasing cases of Catholics who for ideological or practical
reasons prefer to contract a merely civil marriage and who reject or at least
defer religious marriage. Their situation cannot, of course, be likened to that
of people simply living together without any bond at all, because in the present
case there is at least a certain commitment to a properly defined and probably
stable state of life even though the possibility of a future divorce is often
present in the minds of those entering a civil marriage. By seeking public
recognition of their bond on the part of the state, such couples show that they
are ready to accept not only its advantages but also its obligations.
Nevertheless, not even this situation is acceptable to the church.
The aim of pastoral action will be to make these people understand the need for
consistency between their choice of life and the faith that they profess, and to
try to do everything possible to induce them to regularize their situation in
the light of Christian principles. While treating them with great charity and
bringing them into the life of the respective communities, the pastors of the
church will regrettably not be able to admit them to the sacraments.
83. Various reasons can unfortunately lead to the often irreparable breakdown of
valid marriages. These include mutual lack of understanding and the inability to
enter into interpersonal relationships. Obviously, separation must be considered
as a last resort, after all other reasonable attempts at reconciliation have
proved vain.
Loneliness and other difficulties are often the lot of separated spouses
especially when they are the innocent parties. The ecclesial community must
support such people more than ever. It must give them much respect, solidarity,
understanding and practical help, so that they can preserve their fidelity even
in their difficult situation; and it must help them to cultivate the need to
forgive which is inherent in Christian love and to be ready perhaps to return to
their former married life.
The situation is similar for people who have undergone divorce, but, being well
aware that the valid marriage bond is indissoluble, refrain from becoming
involved in a new union and devote themselves solely to carrying out their
family duties and the responsibilities of Christian life. In such cases their
example of fidelity and Christian consistency takes on particular value as a
witness before the world and the church. Here it is even more necessary for the
church to offer continual love and assistance without there being any obstacle
to admission to the sacraments.
84. Daily experience unfortunately shows that people who have obtained a divorce
usually intend to enter into a new union, obviously not with a Catholic
religious ceremony. Since this is an evil that like the others is affecting more
and more Catholics as well, the problem must be faced with resolution and
without delay. The synod fathers studied it expressly. The church, which was set
up to lead to salvation all people and especially the baptized, cannot abandon
to their own devices those who have been previously bound by sacramental
marriage and who have attempted a second marriage. The church will therefore
make untiring efforts to put at their disposal her means of salvation.
Pastors must know that for the sake of truth they are obliged to exercise
careful discernment of situations. There is, in fact, a difference between those
who have sincerely tried to save their first marriage and have been unjustly
abandoned and those who, through their own grave fault, have destroyed a
canonically valid marriage.
Finally, there are those who have entered into a second union for the sake of
the children's upbringing and who are sometimes subjectively certain in
conscience that their previous and irreparably destroyed marriage had never been
valid.
Together with the synod, I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community
of the faithful to help the divorced and with solicitous care to make sure that
they do not consider themselves as separated from the church, for as baptized
persons they can and indeed must share in her life. They should be encouraged to
listen to the word of God, to attend the sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in
prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts in favor of
justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the
spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace. Let
the church pray for them, encourage them and show herself a merciful mother and
thus sustain them in faith and hope.
However, the church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon sacred
scripture, of not admitting to eucharistic communion divorced persons who have
remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state
and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ
and the church which is signified and effected by the eucharist. Besides this
there is another special pastoral reason: If these people were admitted to the
eucharist the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the
church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.
Reconciliation in the sacrament of penance, which would open the way to the
eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign
of the convenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a
way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of
marriage.
This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons such as, for example,
the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to
separate, they "take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that
is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples."[180]
Similarly, the respect due to the sacrament of matrimony, to the couples
themselves and their families, and also to the community of the faithful forbids
any pastor for whatever reason or pretext, even of a pastoral nature, to perform
ceremonies of any kind for divorced people who remarry. Such ceremonies would
give the impression of the celebration of a new, sacramentally valid marriage
and would thus lead people into error concerning the indissolubility of a
validly contracted marriage.
By acting in this way the church professes her own fidelity to Christ and to his
truth. At the same time she shows motherly concern for these children of hers,
especially those who, through no fault of their own, have been abandoned by
their legitimate partner.
With firm confidence she believes that those who have rejected the Lord's
command and are still living in this state will be able to obtain from God the
grace of conversion and salvation, provided that they have persevered in prayer,
penance and charity.
85. I wish to add a further word for a category of people whom, as a result of
the actual circumstances in which they are living, and this often not through
their own deliberate wish, I consider particularly close to the heart of Christ
and deserving of the affection and active solicitude of the church and of
pastors.
There exist in the world countless people who unfortunately cannot in any sense
claim membership in what could be called, in the proper sense, a family. Large
sections of humanity live in conditions of extreme poverty in which promiscuity,
lack of housing, the irregular nature and instability of relationships and the
extreme lack of education make it impossible in practice to speak of a true
family. There are others who for various reasons have been left alone in the
world. And yet for all of these people there exists a "good news of the family."
On behalf of those living in extreme poverty I have already spoken of the urgent
need to work courageously in order to find solutions also at the political
level, which will make it possible to help them and to overcome this inhuman
condition of degradation.
It is a special task that faces the whole of society, but in a special way the
authorities, by reason of their position and the responsibilities flowing
therefrom, and also families, which must show great understanding and
willingness to help.
For those who have no natural family the doors of the great family which is the
church--the church which finds concrete expression in the diocesan and the
parish family, in ecclesial basic communities and in movements of the
apostolate--must be opened even wider. No one is without a family in this world:
The church is a home and family for everyone, especially those who "labor and
are heavy laden."[181]
86. At the end of this apostolic exhortation my thoughts turn with earnest
solicitude: To you, married couples, to you, fathers and mothers of families; To
you, young men and women, the future and the hope of the church and the world,
destined to be the dynamic central nucleus of the family in the approaching
third millennium; To you, venerable and dear brothers in the episcopate and in
the priesthood, beloved sons and daughters in the religious life, souls
consecrated to the Lord, who bear witness before married couples to the ultimate
reality of the love of God;
To you, upright men and women, who for any reason whatever give thought to the
fate of the family.
The future of humanity passes by way of the family.
It is therefore indispensable and urgent that every person of good will should
endeavor to save and foster the values and requirements of the family.
I feel that I must ask for a particular effort in this field from the sons and
daughters of the church. Faith gives them full knowledge of God's wonderful
plan: They therefore have an extra reason for caring for the reality that is the
family in this time of trial and of grace.
They must show the family special love. This is an injunction that calls for
concrete action.
Loving the family means being able to appreciate its values and capabilities,
fostering them always. Loving the family means identifying the dangers and the
evils that menace it in order to overcome them. Loving the family means
endeavoring to create for it an environment favorable for its development. The
modern Christian family is often tempted to be discouraged and is distressed at
the growth of its difficulties; it is an eminent form of love to give it back
its reasons for confidence in itself, in the riches that it possesses by nature
and grace, and in the mission that God has entrusted to it. "Yes, indeed, the
families of today must be called back to their original position. They must
follow Christ."[182]
Christians also have the mission of proclaiming with joy and conviction the good
news about the family, for the family absolutely needs to hear ever anew and to
understand ever more deeply the authentic words that reveal its identity, its
inner resources and the importance of its mission in the city of God and in that
of man.
The church knows the path by which the family can reach the heart of the deepest
truth about itself. The church has learned this path at the school of Christ and
the school of history interpreted in the light of the Spirit. She does not
impose it, but she feels an urgent need to propose it to everyone without fear
and indeed with great confidence and hope, although she knows that the good news
includes the subject of the cross. But it is through the cross that the family
can attain the fullness of its being and the perfection of its love.
Finally, I wish to call on all Christians to collaborate cordially and
courageously with all people of good will who are serving the family in
accordance with their responsibilities. The individuals and groups, movements
and associations in the church which devote themselves to the family's welfare,
acting in the Church's name and under her inspiration, often find themselves
side by side with other individuals and institutions working for the same ideal.
With faithfulness to the values of the Gospel and of the human person and with
respect for lawful pluralism in initiatives, this collaboration can favor a more
rapid and integral advancement of the family.
And now, at the end of my pastoral message, which is intended to draw everyone's
attention to the demanding yet fascinating roles of the Christian family, I wish
to invoke the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Through God's mysterious design, it was in that family that the Son of God spent
long years of a hidden life. It is therefore the prototype and example for all
Christian families. It was unique in the world. Its life was passed in anonymity
and silence in a little town in Palestine. It underwent trials of poverty,
persecution and exile. It glorified God in an incomparably exalted and pure way.
And it will not fail to help Christian families--indeed all the families in the
world--to be faithful to their day-to-day duties, to bear the cares and
tribulations of life, to be open and generous to the needs of others and to
fulfill with joy the plan of God in their regard.
St. Joseph was "a just man," a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those
entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families.
May the Virgin Mary, who is the mother of the church, also be the mother of "the
church of the home. " Thanks to her motherly aid, may each Christian family
really become a "little church" in which the mystery of the church of Christ is
mirrored and given new life. May she, the handmaid of the Lord, be an example of
humble and generous acceptance of the will of God. May she, the sorrowful mother
at the foot of the cross, comfort the sufferings and dry the tears of those in
distress because of the difficulties of their families.
May Christ the Lord, the universal king, the king of families, be present in
every Christian home as he was at Cana, bestowing light, joy, serenity and
strength. On the solemn day dedicated to his kingship I beg of him that every
family may generously make its own contribution to the coming of his kingdom in
the world--"a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a
kingdom of justice, love and peace,"[183] toward which history is journeying.
I entrust each family to him, to Mary and to Joseph. To their hands and their
hearts I offer this exhortation: May it be they who present it to you, venerable
brothers and beloved sons and daughters, and may it be they who open your hearts
to the light that the Gospel sheds on every family.
I assure you all of my constant prayers and I cordially impart the apostolic
blessing to each and every one of you, in the name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Given in Rome, at St. Peter's, Nov. 22, 1981, the solemnity of our Lord Jesus
Christ, universal king, the fourth of the pontificate.
NOTES
1. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 52.
2. Cf. John Paul II, Homily for the Opening of the Sixth Synod of Bishops (Sept.
26, 1980), 2: AAS 72 (1980), 1008.
3. Cf. Gn. 1-2.
4. Cf. Eph. 5.
5. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 47; Pope John Paul II, Letter Appropinquat
Iam (Aug. 15, 1980), 1: AAS 72 (1980), 791.
6. Cf. Mt. 19:4.
7. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 47. 8. Cf. John Paul II, Address to Council
of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops (Feb. 23, 1980): Insegnamenti
di Giovanni Paolo II,) III, I (1980), 472-476.
9. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 4. 10. Cf. Second Vatican Council, Lumen
Gentium, 12.
11. Cf. I Jn. 2:20.
12. Second Vatican Council, LG, 35.
13. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 12; Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Declaration Mysterium Ecclesiae, 2: AAS 65 (1973), 398-400.
14. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 12; Dei Verbum, 10.
15. Cf. John Paul II, Homily for the Opening of the Sixth Synod of Bishops, 3.
16. Cf. St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XIV, 28; CSEL 40, II, 56-57.
17. GS, 15.
18. Cf. Eph. 3:8; Second Vatican Council, GS, 44; Ad Gentes, 15,22.
19. Cf. Mt. 19:4-6.
20. Cf. Gn. 1:26-27.
21. 1 Jn. 4:8.
22. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 12. 23. Cf. Ibid., 48.
24. Cf. e.g., Hos. 2:21; Jer. 3:6-13; Is. 54.
25. Ez. 16:25.
26. Cf. Hos. 3.
27. Cf. Gn. 2:24; Mt. 19:5.
28. Cf. Eph. 5:32-33
29. Tertullian, Ad Uxorem, II, VIII, 6-8: CCL, I, 393.
30. Cf. Council of Trent, Session XXIV, Canon 1: I.D. Mansi, Sacrorum
Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio,33,149-150.
31. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 48.
32. John Paul II, Address to the delegates of the Centre de Liaison des Equipes
de Recherche (Nov. 3, 1979), 3: Insegnamenti II, 2 (1979), 1038.
33. Ibid., 4; loc. cit., 1032. 34. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 50.
34. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 50.
35. Cf. Gn. 2:24.
36. Eph. 3:15.
37. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 78. 38. St. John Chrysostom, Virginity, X:
PG 48:540.
39. Cf. Mt. 22:30.
40. Cf. 1 Cor. 7:32-35.
41. Second Vatican Council, Perfectae Caritatis, 12.
42. Cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Sacra Virginitas, II: AAS 46 (1954), 174ff.
43. Cf. John Paul II, Letter Novo Incipiente (April 8, 1979), 9: AAS 71 (1979),
410-411.
44. Second Vatican Council, GS, 48.
45. Encyclical Redemptor Hominis, 10: AAS 71 (1979), 274.
46. Mt. 19:6; cf. Gn. 2:24.
47. Cf. John Paul II, Address to Married People at Kinshasa (May 3, 1980) 4: AAS
72 (1980), 426-427.
48. GS, 49; cf. John Paul II, Address at Kinshasa 4: loc. cit.
49. Second Vatican Council, GS, 48.
50. Cf Eph 5:25.
51. Mt. 19:8.
52. Rv. 3:14.
53. Cf. 2Cor. 1:20.
54. Cf. Jn. 13:1.
55. Mt. 19:6.
56. Rom. 8:29.
57. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 14, art. 2, ad 4. 58. Second
Vatican Council, LG, 11; cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, 11.
59. Second Vatican Council, GS, 52.
60. Cf. Eph. 6:1-4; Col. 3:20-21.
61. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 48.
62. Jn. 17:21.
63. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 24.
64. Gn. 1:27.
65. Gal. 3:26, 28
66. Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73 (1981), 625.
67. Gn. 2:18.
68. Gn. 2:23.
69. St. Ambrose, Exameron, V 7, 19: CSEL 32, I, 154.
70. Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 9: AAS 60 (1968), 486.
71. Cf. Eph. 5:25.
72. Cf. John Paul II, Homily to the Faithful of Terni (March 19, 1981), 3-5: AAS
73 (1981), 268-271.
73. Cf. Eph. 3:15.
74. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 52. 75. Lk. 18:16; cf. Mt. 19:14; Mk. 18:16.
76. John Paul II, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (Oct. 2,
1979), 21: AAS 71(1979), 1159.
77. Lk. 2:52.
78. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 48.
79. John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the International Forum on
Active Aging (Sept. 5, 1980), 5: Insegnamenti, III, 2 (1980), 539.
80. Gn. 1:28.
81. Cf. Gn. 5:1-3.
82. Second Vatican Council, GS, 50.
83. Propositio 21. Section 11 of the encyclical Humanae Vitae ends with the
statement: "The church, calling people back to the observance of the norms of
the natural law, as interpreted by her constant doctrine, teaches that each and
every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life (ut quilibet
matrimonii usus ad vitam humanam procreandam per se destinatus permaneat)": AAS
60 (1968), 488.
84. Cf. 2 Cor. 1:19; Rv. 3:14.
85. Cf. The sixth Synod of Bishops' Message to Christian Families in the Modern
World (Oct. 24, 1980), 5.
86. GS, 51.
87. Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 7: AAS 60 (1968), 485.
88. Ibid., 12: loc. cit., 488-489.
89. Ibid., 14: loc. cit., 490.
90. Ibid., 13: loc. cit.,m 489.
91. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GS, 51.
92. Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 29: AAS 60 (1968), 501.
93. Cf. Ibid., 25: loc. cit., 498-499.
94. Ibid., 21: loc. cit., 496.
95. John Paul II, Homily at the Close of the Sixth Synod of Bishops (Oct. 25,
1980), 8: AAS 72 (1980), 1083.
96. Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 28: AAS 60 (1968), 501.
97. Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Delegates of the Centre de Liaison des
Equipes de Recherche (Nov. 3, 1979), 9: Insegnamenti, II, 2 (1979), 1035; and
cf. Address to the Participants in the First Congress for the Family of Africa
and Europe (Jan. 15, 1981): L'Osservatore Romano, Jan. 16, 1981.
98. Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 25: AAS 60 (1968), 499.
99. Gravissimum Educationis, 3.
100. Second Vatican Council, GS, 35.
101. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, IV, 58.
102. GE, 2.
103. Apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 71: AAS 68 (1976), 60-61.
104. Cf. Second Vatican Council, GE, 3.
105. Second Vatican Council, AA, 11.
106. GS, 52.
107. Cf. Second Vatican Council, AA, 11.
108. Rom. 12:13.
109. Mt. 10:42.
110. Cf. GS, 30.
111. Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae, 5.
112. Cf propositio 42.
113. Second Vatican Council, LG, 31.
114. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 11; AA, II; Pope John Paul II, Homily for
the Opening of the Sixth Synod of Bishops (Sept. 26, 1980), 3:AAS 72 (1980)
1008.
115. Second Vatican Council, LG, 11.
116. Cf. Ibid., 41.
117. Acts 4:32.
118. Cf. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 9. 119. GS, 48.
120. Cf. Second Vatican Council, DV, 1. 121. Rom. 16:26.
122. Cf. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 25. 123. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 71.
124. Cf. Address to the Third General Assembly of the Bishops of Latin America
(Jan. 28, 1979), IV A: AAS 71(1979), 204.
125. Second Vatican Council, LG, 35. 126. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation
Catechesi Tradendae, 68: AAS 71 (1979), 1334.
127. Cf. Ibid., 36: loc. cit., 1308. 128. Cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-6; Eph. 4:12-13. 129.
Mk. 16:15.
130. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 11.
131. Acts 1:8.
132. Cf.l Pt.3:1-2.
133. Second Vatican Council, LG, 35; cf. AA, 11.
134. Cf. Acts 18; Rom. 16:3-4.
135. Cf. Second Vatican Council, AG, 39.
136. Second Vatican Council, AA, 30. 137. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 10.
138. Second Vatican Council, GS, 49. 139. Ibid., 48.
140. Cf. Second Vatican Council, LG, 41.
141. Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 59.
142. Cf. 1 Pt. 2:5; Second Vatican Council, LG, 34.
143. Second Vatican Council, LG, 34.
144. SC, 78.
145. Cf. Jn. 19:34.
146. Section 25: AAS 60 (1968), 499.
147. Eph. 2:4.
148. Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Dives in Misericordia, 13: AAS 72
(1980)[1218]-1219.
149. 1 Pt. 2:5.
150. Mt. 18:19-20.
151. Second Vatican Council, GE, 3; cf. Pope John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae,
36: AAS 71 (1979), 1308.
152. General Audience Address,Aug. 11, 1976:Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, XIV
(1976),640.
I[53]. Cf. SC, 12.
154. Cf. Institutio Generalis de Liturgia Horarum, 27.
155. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, 52, 54: AAS 66 (1974),
160-161.
156. John Paul II, Address at the Mentorella Shrine (Oct. 29, 1978):
Insegnamenti, I (1978), 78-79.
157. Cf. Second Vatican Council, AA, 4.
158. Cf. John Paul I, Address to the Bishops of the 12th Pastoral Region of the
United States (Sept. 21, 1978): AAS, 70 (1978), 767.
159. Rom. 8:2.
160. Rom. 5:5.
161. Cf. Mk. 10:45.
162. Second Vatican Council, LG, 36.
163. AA, 8.
164. Cf. Synod of Bishops' Message to Christian Families (Oct. 24, 1980),12.
165. Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Third General Assembly of the Bishops of
Latin America (Jan. 28, 1979), IV A: AAS 71(1979), 204.
166. Cf. Second Vatican Council, SC, 10.
167. Cf. Ordo Celebrandi Matrimonium, 17.
168. Cf. Second Vatican Council, SC, 59.
169. Second Vatican Council, PC, 12.
170. John Paul II, Address to the Confederation of Family Advisory Bureaus of
Christian Inspiration (Nov. 29, 1980), 3-4: Insegnamenti III, 2 (1980),
1453-1454.
171. Paul VI, Message for the Third Social Communications Day (April 7,1969):
AAS 61 (1969), 455.
172. John Paul II, Message for the 1980 World Social Communications Day (May 1,
1980): Insegnamenti III, 1 (1980), 1042.
173. John Paul II, Message for the 1981 World Social Communications Day (May 10,
1981), 5: L'Osservatore Romano, May 22, 1981.
174. Ibid.
175. Paul VI, Message for the Third Social Communications Day: AAS 61 (1969),
456.
176. Ibid.
177. John Paul II, Message for the 1980 World Social Communications Day, loc.
sit., 1044.
178. Cf. Paul VI, Motu Proprio Matrimonia Mixta, 4-5: AAS 62 (1970), 257-259;
John Paul II, Address to the Participants in the Plenary Meeting of the
Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (Nov. 13, 1981): L'Osservatore Romano,
Nov. 14,1981.
179. Instruction In Quibus Rerum Circumstantiis (June 15, 1972): AAS 64 (1972),
518-525; Note of Oct. 17, 1973; AAS 65 (1973), 616-619.
180. John Paul II, Homily at the Close of the Sixth Synod of Bishops, 7 (Oct.
25, 1980): AAS 72 (1980), 1082.
181. Mt. 11:28.
182. John Paul II, Letter Appropinquat Iam (Aug. 15, 1980), 1: AAS 72 (1980),
791.
183. The Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the King.
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