VALENCIA, Spain, JULY 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The audience at the Theological-Pastoral Congress thanked John Paul II's long-time secretary Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz with a standing ovation.
Cardinal Dziwisz, currently the archbishop of Krakow, went to Valencia to give the address "John Paul II, Pope of the Family and of Life."
"Taking into account the history of his priestly life, John Paul II can be described as one of the greatest pastors of the family in the history of the Catholic Church of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries," said Cardinal Dziwisz.
"All his theological-philosophical thought, as well as his pastoral service to the family and life, did not begin with his election to the Primacy of Peter, but matured throughout his life and pastoral service as priest, bishop and, finally, as Pope."
The speaker thus highlighted the essential lines of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's pastoral care of the family.
Such care consisted, firstly, in counting on the participation of the laity.
Secondly, it was not directed exclusively to a determined group of chosen people.
Next, it had to develop with adequate instruments, including programs of theoretical-practical studies on the matter.
And, finally, all these elements had to manifest clearly their relationship with Christian faith and morality.
For John Paul II, "the principal activity in the pastoral care of the family is prayer, as he manifested in his Letter to Families."
ZE06070706 - 2006-07-07
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-16517?l=english
Cardinal Dziwisz: John Paul II Was "Family Pope"
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