Madrid, Spain, Sep 16, 2008 / 18:36 pm
The Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Antonio Canizares, said during a homily this week that it is the duty of each and every member of society “to support and strengthen the family and its foundation.” This must be done by spreading the truth about marriage as “a lifelong indissoluble union between a man and a woman, rooted in love and open to life,” he said.
During a Mass for the XIX Marian Day of the Family at the Shrine of Torreciudad, the Spanish cardinal underscored that “everyone, without exception, is obliged to promote and strengthen the values and demands of the family. The family must be helped and defended through appropriate social means.”
Cardinal Cañizares explained that the promotion and defense of the family is “the basis of a new culture of love, the center of the new civilization of love.”
“Only the family is the hope of humanity,” he said, adding that “Catholics have a special responsibility that translates into the proclamation of the gospel of the family.”