The president of the Pontifical Council noticed that “the family is intimately connected to a person’s identity and to the truth of love between people”, and “the cohesion and development of society depend on it and on the human relations that are connected with it”. In addition, “the family begets the future citizens and workers”, it “remarkably contributes to handing down the cultural heritage of society” and “feeds the social virtues”, such as “respect, responsibility, trust, solidarity, laboriousness, cooperation”: so, “supporting the family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, culturally, legally, socially and economically, is in the interest of society and the state”. However, card. Antonelli said he is “confident” about the future, because “the natural family is the most longed-for value and is still top of the list as one of people’s ambitions, even of young people”, and, everywhere in the world, “minorities of families, who are more aware than before, who are exemplary, generous, able to swim against the tide, are on the rise. In many countries, the family is taking centre stage again, through several forms of religious and civil association”.

25/05/2012 -