WITNESS CEASELESSLY TO THE BEAUTY OF MARRIAGE, THE FAMILY

VATICAN CITY, JAN 20, 2003 (VIS) - The Pope today welcomed 300 members of Les Equipes Notre Dame (Teams of Our Lady), which is an international movement of married couples founded in France and dedicated to promoting the spiritual life of couples through prayer and study. He thanked them for the fruits generated worldwide by their movement and encouraged them to "witness ceaselessly and in an explicit manner to the greatness and beauty of human love, marriage and the family."

He noted that the movement is celebrating the centenary of the birth of its founder, Fr. Henri Caffarel who, he said, "showed the greatness and beauty of the vocation to marriage and ... underscored the call to holiness linked to conjugal and family life" and developed a specific spirituality for married couples.

"In the face of the threats that weigh on the family and the factors that make it so fragile, the theme of your (world meeting in Rome), 'Couples called by Christ to the New Covenant,' is especially opportune," remarked the Holy Father. "By their entire life, Christian spouses receive the mission to show, in a visible way, God's unfailing covenant with the world. The Christian faith presents marriage as the Good News: a reciprocal and total relation that is unique and indissoluble, between a man and a woman, who are called to give life."

The Pope highlighted the importance of the Eucharist in the life of a married couple and invited couples to draw their strength from it. He also underscored the importance of "teams participating ever more actively in ecclesial life, especially by being close to young people, who are awaiting the Christian message about human love, which is both demanding and exalting."

John Paul II told his guests that he thanked God "for the fruits of your movement worldwide," but added that his prayers also accompanied those homes and couples in difficulty. "I desire to express my spiritual closeness to separated people, the divorced and the divorced and remarried who, as baptized persons, are called, in respect of the Church's rules, to participate in Christian life."

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