Argentine archbishop: protect the family from harmful foreign influences

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The president of the Committee on the Family of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina, Archbishop Carlos Nañez of Cordoba, exhorted the country’s leaders this week to avoid using “foreign models, whether moral or economic,” that would submerge “the Argentine family in poverty and material and spiritual marginalization.”

At the conclusion of the National Gathering for Family Ministry, the archbishop recalled that political leaders have the duty to make it possible for families to have dignified life and to help them out of poverty, instead of “creating health plans that do not correspond to our way of life.”

Likewise, Archbishop Nañez expressed his profound regret at “the loss of our country’s own identity,” but he acknowledge that “we have all contributed” to this problem either directly or indirectly.

A final statement prepared by participants in the event underscored that the media, “as a reflection and as a creator of culture, often contradicts family values.”  Therefore, the participants committed themselves to promoting such values as “the protection of life” and marital fidelity, which strengthen the family.

Although the statement notes that family and marriage ministry is “increasingly more difficult,” it also reaffirms the beauty of the vocation to this sacrament, through which “one can be fulfilled despite today’s difficulties.”

During the gathering, participants reflected on the needs of those who have divorced and remarried and on the efforts some are making to force the country to accept abortion.