Reconstructing man

“May this Meeting continue to echo like a joyful song of love, life and faith shared in families, and help the world to understand that the matrimonial union, by which a man and a woman establish a permanent bond, is a great good for humanity as a whole”: that was the appeal made by Benedict XVI in Valencia last Sunday, at the end of the 5th World Meeting of families, which saw the participation of roughly a million faithful. The Pope also called the family “a community of generations and guarantor of a legacy of traditions”. “All of us – observed Benedict XVI – have received life and the fundamental truths of life from others, and are called to attain perfection in loving relationship and communion with others. The family, founded on the indissoluble union between a man and a woman, expresses this relational, filial and community dimension, and is the sphere in which man can be born with dignity, and grow and develop in an integral way”. The Pope’s message is strong and will resonate in Spanish society, as explained to SirEurope by JOSÈ FRANCISCO SERRANO , editor in chief of the Catholic news weekly “Alfa y Omega”. What did the Pope’s presence at Valencia and his words mean for Spanish Catholics? “At the present time in Spain we are going through a second transition, which is not just a political transition, but goes to the very heart of the way in which society is constructed. It is a cultural and social transition, a transition in values and aims, in our way of understanding the human person and relating ourselves to it. Benedict XVI’s presence among us was a grace of God and a blessing for the contemporary history of Spain. The Pope came to remind us of the ‘Christian method’ to respond to the great questions of the present time. The Christian method is a proposal in favour of man. Benedict XVI closed the world meeting of families and reminded us that the question of matrimony and of the family is fundamental for man. The Christian method, moreover, is based on the joy of an ever-creative proposal that astonishes and does not disqualify but on the contrary seeks a meeting on what we have in common, namely the need for happiness. The presence and the regard of Benedict XVI were thus a breath of fresh air that helped us to focus on what is essential”. According to the media, the Pope adopted a soft and conciliatory approach, because he did not directly attack the Spanish government to press for the withdrawal of laws such as those on gay marriages and fast-track divorces. What do you think? “No one can think that the Pope came to Spain to attack someone. What the Pope does is remind us what genuine social policy ought to be: namely, that of reconstructing man, a man who is now fragmented due to a poor use of freedom, a man destroyed by his poor digestion of the values of modernity, a man disoriented and without hope. The Pope is interested not in the policies of parties, but in the moral foundations on which society is built today”. In your view are there still any chances of dialogue between the Church and the Spanish government? “The Church in Spain is not interested in conflict. What interests it are the Spanish people, the citizens. The Church is concerned that the development and progress of Span should not be merely superficial and skin-deep, but a development based on a conception of the person and the relations between people that can ensure a future of justice and solidarity. In the present situation we need to realise that the first to take steps to alter the values and principles on which community life is based in Spain was the government”. What will be your most lasting memory of the meeting in Valencia? “I will remember the smile of Benedict XVI, the placidity of his manner and the constant appropriateness of his words. We had a need to listen to him and a need for him to listen to us, so that the world should know that the Christian roots of Spain are still alive”.