On the first full day of his visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis said there is an ideological colonization present in today’s world that is seeking to destroy the family.
In a meeting with families Friday in the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, the Pope also said the world needs good and strong families to overcome increasing efforts to redefine marriage. And he reaffirmed the Church’s teaching outlined by Blessed Pope Paul VI in Humanae vitae.
“Be attentive to the new ideological colonization,” the Pope said, speaking extemporaneously in Spanish to thousands of families who assembled for the meeting. “There is an ideological colonization that we have to be careful of, that tries to destroy the family.
“It is not born of a dream, of prayer, of an encounter with God, of the mission that God gives us,” he said. “It comes from outside, and that is why I say it’s colonization.”
Pope Francis therefore urged families: “Let us not lose the freedom of the mission that God has given us, the mission of the family. Just as our peoples, in a moment of their history, were able to say ‘no’ to political colonization, as families we have to be very wise, very able, and very strong, to say ‘no’ to these initiatives of colonization of the family, and to ask the intercession of St. Joseph, who was a friend to the Angel, to inspire us to know when we can say ‘yes’ and when we must say ‘no.’”
He also outlined the many pressures on family life today: natural disasters, economic situations that have caused families to be separated by migration, and people living under serious financial constraints or even dire poverty, while others are caught up in materialism and lifestyles which are destructive of family life and the most basic demands of Christian morality.
“The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” the Pope also observed.
Pausing for a moment in unscripted comments, Pope Francis then said: “I think of Blessed Paul VI. At a time when the issue of population growth was being raised, he had the strength to defend openness to life in the family.
“He knew the difficulties that families experience and that’s why in his encyclical he expressed compassion for particular cases. And he taught confessors to be particularly compassionate with particular cases. But he went further. He looked at the peoples beyond. He saw the threat of the destruction of the family over the lack of children.
“Paul VI was courageous,” he continued. “He was a good pastor. And he warned his sheep about the wolves that were approaching. May he bless us from heaven this evening.”
Pope Francis beatified Paul VI on October 19, 2014, following the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family.
“Every threat to the family is a threat to society itself,” he continued. “The future of humanity, as Saint John Paul II often said, passes through the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). So protect your families!”
The Sleeping St. Joseph: Sure Guide to Family Prayer
Pope Francis told families that the key to building a strong home and family life is prayer. Drawing upon the Gospel image of St. Joseph sleeping, as the angel reveals God’s will to him in a dream, the Pope told families that resting in prayer is vital for our spiritual health “so that we can hear God’s voice and understand what he asks of us.”
It is especially important for families, he added, since “it is in the family that we first learn how to pray.”
“In the family we learn how to love, to forgive, to be generous and open, not closed and selfish,” he continued. “We learn to move beyond our own needs, to encounter others and share our lives with them. That is why it is so important to pray as a family! That is why families are so important in God’s plan for the Church!”
In unscripted remarks to the assembled families, Pope Francis then confided something “very personal” regarding his own devotion to St. Joseph. “I like St. Joseph very much,” he said, “because he is a strong man of silence.”
He continued: “On my desk I have an image of St. Joseph sleeping. Sleeping, he looks after the Church! Yes! He can do it, we know. And when I have a problem, or a difficulty, I write it down and I put it underneath St. Joseph, so that he can dream about it! This means: please pray, St. Joseph, for this problem.”
But Pope Francis observed that, like St. Joseph, once we have heard God’s voice, “we must rise from our slumber; we must get up and act (cf. Rom 13:11)”. Faith, he said, does not remove us from the world, but draws us more deeply into it with the strength and power of prayer. And what a gift this would be to society, he added, if every Christian family lived fully its noble vocation.”
Pope Francis therefore called on families to be a prophetic voice in the world today.
He encouraged parents to take up their role as primary educators of their children: “When families bring children into the world, train them in faith and sound values, and teach them to contribute to society, they become a blessing in our world. God’s love becomes present and active by the way we love and by the good works that we do.”
And he also asked families to show particular concern for those who do not have a family, especially the elderly and orphans. “Never let them feel isolated, alone and abandoned,” he said, “but help them to know that God has not forgotten them.”
Following the meeting, three families gave personal testimonies on the difficulties faced by living in poverty, being divided by forced migration, and having family members with a disability.
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis made an unscheduled to visit 300 children at a Manila center that helps orphans and children living in the slums.
On Saturday morning, the Pope will travel to the typhoon-battered island of Leyte, where he will celebrate Mass and have lunch with a group of survivors of the 2013 typhoon Haiyan, and the 7.2 magnitude Bohol earthquake. In the afternoon he will meet with priests, religious, seminarians, and families of the survivors.
On Sunday morning, Pope Francis is scheduled to meet with young people. In the afternoon he will celebrate Holy Mass in Manila. Some estimate that close to 6 million people will attend.
On Monday, Pope Francis returns to Rome.
Diane Montagna is Rome correspondent for Aleteia’s English edition.
http://www.fiamc.org/bioethics/humanae-vitae/
