Pope meets with immigrant families served by Vatican clinic

Published: 2005-12-30

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Celebrating the feast of the Holy Family with families from almost a dozen countries, Pope Benedict XVI asked them to join him in praying for families in difficulty, especially those who are far from their homelands. The pope Dec. 30 visited the Vatican's St. Martha Dispensary, a maternal and pediatric clinic staffed by volunteers that serves mainly immigrants. Afterward, in the movie theater of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, he met with families who use the clinic and with the volunteers who staff it. In his short speech, the pope said that, while the modern emphasis on the love of a man and a woman and their free choice to marry is an important aspect of marriage, too many people find it difficult today to understand "the value of the call to collaborate with God in procreating human life."

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