Archbishop says families are ‘the poor of today’, deserve greater charity

Madrid, Spain, Mar 23, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In his weekly pastoral letter, Archbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco of Valencia, Spain, said greater charity must be shown to those families that are most in need, for while “the working class was considered the poor in the past, today’s poor are the families.”

In his letter, the archbishop warns that in today’s world, “Choosing to have a family and raise kids is seen by many as way of ending up poor.”

“Families are the poor of our time,” he said, noting that “all of us can contribute to establishing social changes so that the right to have a family is a reality.”  “There are many countries that have policies harmful to families,” he warned.

Therefore, Archbishop Garcia-Gasco said the practice of charity towards needy families “must not be left out” of the V World Meeting of Families, which will take place in Valencia in July.  

He praised the attitude of many families in Valencia who “have opened their hearts and their homes to welcome pilgrims from all over the world with whom they will share their homes and their meals.”  He also noted that the “wave of generosity is spreading so that Christians of third-world countries can be present at the meeting and share the testimony of their own experiences.”

Works of charity “are an essential task of the Church that cannot be overlooked by any Christian.”  The archbishop said the meeting of families in Valencia would be an important opportunity to develop new “attitudes, policies and legislative efforts that truly address the material needs of families.”