Pope Benedict says traditional family must be defended, helped

Published: 2005-06-07

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI turned his attention to the family in early June, encouraging church members to help couples in crisis and reaffirming church teaching that marriage between a man and a woman is the only legitimate basis for family life. Because human beings were created in the image of God, and because God is love, "the vocation to love is that which makes the person an authentic image of God: One becomes similar to God to the degree that one becomes one who loves," the pope said June 6. The pope's speech to the Diocese of Rome's annual convention at the Basilica of St. John Lateran was the most extensive of his three interventions on the family in three days. Pope Benedict told the diocesan convention that contrary to what many people think today marriage is not a "casual sociological construction," but a reflection of the truth about the human person, the meaning of life and the relationship of human beings with the God who created them out of love and for love.

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