Vatican City, 11 September, 2021 / 11:30 am (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis encouraged families to be united in prayer, open to life, and charitable to the poor in a message ahead of the 2022 World Meeting of Families in Rome.
“Dear friends, the family is alive if it finds itself united in prayer. The family is strong, if it rediscovers the Word of God and the providential value of all his promises,” the pope said in the message released Sept. 11.
“The family is generous and builds history if it remains open to life, if it does not discriminate and serves the most vulnerable and the most in need, if it does not stop offering the world the bread of charity and the wine of fraternity.”
The pope sent the message to Catholic families participating in a pilgrimage taking place this weekend in 20 Marian shrines around Italy and Switzerland.
“The thousands of families in prayer today show the luminous face of faith in Jesus Christ in a time crushed by so many difficulties, sufferings, and new poverty,” Pope Francis said.