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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/i...ongress_Credit_EWTN_CNA_9_24_15.jpgWashington D.C., Sep 24, 2015 / 09:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).-In his lengthy speech to the U.S. Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis said the family is being threatened today like never before, and praised American figures, including Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr., for their tireless efforts to defend freedom and values. The Pope also boldly condemned the death penalty and the arms trade, calling for their global abolition.
“How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement!” the Pope told Congress Sept. 24.
“Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without.”
Fundamental relationships, he said, “are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.”
He called specific attention to members of the family who are the most vulnerable, particularly the youth. While many face futures filled with endless possibilities, too many are trapped inside “a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair.”
“Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them,” he said, explaining that concrete solutions must be the result of a joint effort, without “getting bogged down in discussions.”
Francis also noted the troubling trend of youth deciding not to get married, and said that “at the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future.”
“Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family,” he said, alluding to the growing fad of being ‘childless-by-choice’.
Pope Francis is the first Roman Pontiff ever to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. His visit to the nation’s capitol took place on his third day in the U.S. Shortly before his address to Congress, he met privately with Rep. John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility,” he reminded the legislators in his public speech, as a visibly moved Boehner looked on.
“Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation … you are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.”
“A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people.”
“You are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face,” he said, giving them Moses as an exemplar of this task.
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Full article…
“How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement!” the Pope told Congress Sept. 24.
“Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without.”
Fundamental relationships, he said, “are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.”
He called specific attention to members of the family who are the most vulnerable, particularly the youth. While many face futures filled with endless possibilities, too many are trapped inside “a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair.”
“Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them,” he said, explaining that concrete solutions must be the result of a joint effort, without “getting bogged down in discussions.”
Francis also noted the troubling trend of youth deciding not to get married, and said that “at the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future.”
“Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family,” he said, alluding to the growing fad of being ‘childless-by-choice’.
Pope Francis is the first Roman Pontiff ever to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. His visit to the nation’s capitol took place on his third day in the U.S. Shortly before his address to Congress, he met privately with Rep. John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility,” he reminded the legislators in his public speech, as a visibly moved Boehner looked on.
“Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation … you are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.”
“A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people.”
“You are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face,” he said, giving them Moses as an exemplar of this task.
feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/catholicnewsagency/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/catholicnewsagency/dailynews/~4/xAK7V4yrbQo
Full article…