Vatican City, 3 October 2014 (VIS) –
“Family and future of Europa” is the theme of the plenary
assembly taking place in these days at the Council of European
Episcopal Conferences. This morning Pope Francis received seventy of
its members, to whom he delivered an off-the-cuff address. He
subsequently handed them a written discourse underlining how, as
pastors close to their flock, they well know the complexity of the
panorama and the challenges the mission of the Church faces, even in
Europe.
“We are called to be an 'outbound'
Church, in movement from the centre towards the peripheries to reach
out to all, without fear, without distrust, and with apostolic
courage”, says the document.
Addressing the theme of the plenary
session, the Holy Father writes that it constitutes an important
occasion for joint reflection on how to exalt the family as a
valuable resource for pastoral renewal, emphasising the need for
Pastors and families to work together, with a spirit of humility and
sincere dialogue, so that parish communities become “families of
families”. In this respect, he observes that “there is no lack of
diverse experiences of family pastoral care and political and social
commitment to support families, both those that experience an
ordinary married life and those afflicted by problems or breakdowns.
It is important to gather together these significant experiences
present in the different areas of the life of the men and women of
our time, in relation to whom we must exercise an appropriate
discernment, in order to then 'put them in the network', thus
involving other diocesan communities”.
Collaboration between Pastors and
families also extends to the field of education, “favouring the
maturation of a spirit of justice, solidarity, peace, and the courage
of one's own convictions. It involves supporting parents in their
responsibility to education their children, protecting their
fundamental right to give their children the education they consider
most appropriate. Parents, indeed, remain the first and most
important educators of their children, and therefore they have the
right to educate them in conformity with their moral and religious
convictions. In this regard, it is possible to outline common and
coordinated pastoral directives, with the aim of offering valid
promotion and support to Catholic schools”.
At the end of the text, Pope Francis
encourages those present to continue in their efforts to favour
communion between the various Churches in Europe, enabling
appropriate collaboration for fruitful evangelisation. “I also
invite you to be a 'prophetic voice' within society, especially where
the process of secularisation in process throughout the European
continent tends to make it increasingly marginal to speak about God”,
he concludes.
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