#PopeFrancis "In the family we learn of the bonds which unite us, of fidelity..." #Audience - Text/Video
“During this period,” explained Pope Francis, “the catecheses will be reflections inspired by some aspects of the relationship – which we may certainly define as indissoluble – between the Church and the family, with a view to the common good of the whole Christian community.”
Pope Francis went on to say that family life, like the life of the Church, is a pilgrimage: he explained that, when families journey along the way of the Lord, they offer a fundamental witness to God’s love, and they deserve the full commitment and support of the Church. The Holy Father also considered that the family is at once the domestic Church and the school of virtue in which we learn what it means – practically and with a view to our ultimate purpose and calling as creatures made for God – to be social. It was a point emphasized in the English-language summary read after the main catechesis in Italian. “In the family we learn of the bonds which unite us, of fidelity, sincerity, trust, cooperation and respect, even when difficulties abound,” said Pope Francis.
The Holy Father went on to say that, even though families care for society’s most vulnerable members as a matter of course in living out their natural vocation and mission, political and economic life today does not always support the family, and seems to have lost the ability to incorporate the virtues of family life into the common life of society. “The Church today identifies, in this precise point, the historical sense of her mission in regard to the family and the authentic spirit of family: starting from a careful revision of life, which concerns the Church herself.”
“You could say that the ‘family spirit’ is a constitution for the Church,” continued Pope Francis. “This is what Christianity must show to the world, and so must Christianity truly be.”
Below, please find the official English-language summary of the Holy Father’s prepared remarks *********************** During the Synod of Bishops, I would like to reflect on some aspects of the profound relationship between the Church and the family, with a view to the common good of society. When families journey along the way of the Lord, they offer a fundamental witness to God’s love, and they deserve the full commitment and support of the Church. In the family we learn of the bonds which unite us, of fidelity, sincerity, trust, cooperation and respect, even when difficulties abound. Indeed it is in family life that the most vulnerable of society are cared for. And yet, political and economic life today does not always support the family, and seems to have lost the ability to incorporate the virtues of family life into the common life of society. Here the Church is called to exercise her mission by first examining to what extent she is living as the family of God. Like Saint Peter, the Church is called to be a fisher of men, and so too needs a new type of net. Families are this net. They free us from the sea of loneliness and indifference, so that we can all experience the freedom of being children of God. May the Church go out into the deep, confident that the catch will be great. And may the Synod Fathers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, encourage the Church to cast out her net with confidence and faith in the Word of God.
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