EDUCATION IS INALIENABLE RIGHT AND DUTY OF PARENTS

VATICAN CITY, FEB 6, 1999 (VIS) - At 7:30 p.m. in the Paul VI Hall, the Second Feast of the Family was held, an event organized by the diocese of Rome in preparation for the 21st Day of Life which will be celebrated tomorrow in Italy.

Following a time of festivity and reflection, the Rosary was prayed, after which Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, read a message from the Holy Father addressed to families.

"With the prayer of the Rosary," writes John Paul II, "you wish to entrust all families of our city to our Heavenly Mother, so that she will listen to all of their desires and hopes, and they, faithful to the plan of God, will answer fully to their special vocation in the Church and in society."

Having evoked the theme of the Day for Life, "Motherhood and Fatherhood. Gift and Commitment," the Pope states: "Nobody can reject the gift of fatherhood and motherhood, neither for themselves nor for others. Each and every person has the specific task of living this gift according to their own vocation."

"Fatherhood and motherhood exist even without procreation, but procreation cannot be separated from fatherhood and motherhood. Nobody can separate it from the love of a man and woman who in marriage give themselves to each other forming 'one flesh'. Moreover, there is the risk of treating man and woman not as persons but as objects."

Finally, the Pope highlighted that "love of parents is the factor which qualifies their task of education. It is an original, primary, irreplaceable and unalienable right and duty."

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