Revitalize alliance between Church and family, Pope urges at weekly audience
September 09, 2015
At his weekly public audience on September 9, Pope Francis said that “it is indispensable to revitalize the covenant between the family and the Christian community.”
There is a natural relationship between the family and the Church, the Popes aid, since “the Church is a spiritual family, and the family is a little Church.”
Moreover, the Pontiff continued, the Church and the family stand in a vital alliance against “the centers of power: ideological, financial, and political” that control public life. These centers of power control most of the events that are recorded in history books, the Pope said, but “the story of human affections is written directly on the heart of God, and that is the story that remains in eternity.” Thus it is in the family and in the Church, he said, that we find “the history that matters to the Lord.”
Pope Francis went on to say that the Church and the family, two communities of love, are always ready to welcome people with love. The Church, he stressed, must always have open doors to welcome people. “Churches, parishes, and institutions with closed doors cannot call themselves churches-– they should call themselves museums.”
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Further information:
- Pope Francis: families and churches must be open, welcoming (Vatican Radio)
- General audience: it is essential to revive the alliance between the family and the Christian community (VIS)
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