"The courage to promote change and reconciliation, so that all the population of the country can enjoy decent living conditions and benefit of the fruit of the earth, in ever-increasing solidarity". This is the wish expressed this morning by Benedict XVI, as he received in audience the bishops of Haiti, headed by their new president, mgr. Louis Kébreau, on their visit limina. In recalling "the divisions, the injustices, the poverty, the unemployment" that torment the country, the Pope wished "the international community will continue and increase its support of the Haitian population, to enable it to increasingly take their future and their development in their own hands". With reference to the crisis of the family, "destabilised by the crisis that the country is experiencing, as well as by the changing customs and the progressive loss of the meaning of marriage", which "puts other forms of unions on the same plane", the Pontiff exhorted the bishops to "support married couples and young households by guiding them and giving them appropriate advice". "It is largely from the family that society and the Church develop", he explained. Then, Benedict XVI dwelt on the "permanent training" of the priests and emphasised the importance of "their abstaining from any political involvement". (continued)
