Large crowds gather in Madrid for annual Holy Family Mass

December 30, 2013

A large crowd, estimated by Agence France-Presse in the “tens of thousands,” gathered in Madrid for the seventh annual outdoor Mass for the Feast of the Holy Family.

“The Christian family is demonstrating, once again, in a very difficult historical moment, its unconquerable and irreplaceable value for solidarity and social peace,” preached Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, as quoted by the Spanish newspaper ABC.

The family, he added, is the place where the “chronically ill, the terminally ill, those who have lost their job, the unemployed,” as well as “young people who have bogged down their lives in alcohol, in drugs, in wild sex,” can find comfort and help.

Pope Francis greeted participants in the Mass at the conclusion of his Sunday Angelus address.

 

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Further information:

• En directo: Rouco Varela asegura que la familia es el consuelo para todos los males (ABC)
• En directo: Rouco Varela asegura que la familia ha demonstrado en la crisis "su insuperable valor para la solidaridad y la paz social" (ABC)
• Huge crowds hold Madrid mass after new abortion law (AFP)
• Pope Francis: Angelus, 29 December 2013 (Italian)