Vatican official urges renewal of spouses' life-long 'yes'

Rome, Italy, May 16, 2013 / 15:12 pm

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said a cultural change is needed to recover the value and meaning of the life-long "yes" that spouses give each other in marriage. 

"Unfortunately, today if you give a 'life-long yes' to your football team, that is more acceptable than if you give it to your husband or wife," Archbishop Paglia said during a meeting with reporters on May 14 in Rome.

"This needs to be re-introduced into the culture," he stressed.

"Today, spouses do not jointly own their possessions because, they say, 'You never know,'" he observed, adding that people are perceived as "crazy" if they say that are committed to their marriage "forever." 
 
Society today suffers from a grave cultural problem because the family is no longer supported by the culture, the archbishop continued. 

"Thirty or forty years ago, it was not accepted in society if you didn't get married by a certain age. But today it is the exact opposite," he said, adding that there is a lack of trust in modern culture.

Archbishop Paglia lamented the growth of single-parent families and children with no siblings. He observed that families comprised of a father, a mother and children "are the backbone of our countries" and said that the state should promote these stable families.