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CNS Story:
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POPE-LATINAMERICA Feb-19-2007 (400 words) xxxi
Pope warns that family in Latin America is showing signs of erosion
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI warned that the family in Latin America is showing signs of erosion, as evidenced by increasing divorce, cohabitation and adultery.
He said the church should help resist legislative lobbies that are advancing an anti-family agenda in the region and undermining the institution of marriage.
He made the remarks Feb. 17 to participants at a Vatican meeting of apostolic nuncios stationed in Latin America and other church officials. They met in a planning session for the fifth general conference of the Latin American bishops, which will take place in Brazil May 13-31.
The pope, who will travel to Brazil to personally open the conference, reviewed a long list of challenges to the church in Latin America.
He said priority attention should be given to the family, which "shows signs of yielding under the pressure of lobbies which are capable of negatively influencing the legislative process."
"Divorce and free unions are increasing, while adultery is looked upon with unjustifiable tolerance," he said.
He said the church needs to underline that marriage and the family are based on truths about the nature of man, and that the human community must be built upon the strong foundation of "faithful and stable conjugal love between a man and a woman."
The pope said the church's strong social role in Latin America was one of its biggest assets and one reason why the people hold the church in high esteem.
"Assistance to the poor and the fight against poverty remain a fundamental priority in the life of the church in Latin America," he said.
But he said increasing numbers of people are being influenced by two strong trends: the proselytism of religious sects and the growing influence of "postmodern hedonistic secularism." The challenge of the sects, in particular, requires a convincing media presence by the church, he said.
The pope praised the church's long centuries of evangelization work in Latin America and rejected the notion that Christianity was a foreign religion imposed on native cultures.
"In reality, the encounter between these cultures and faith in Christ was a response that was internally awaited by these cultures. This encounter is not something to renounce but to deepen, and it has created the true identity of the peoples of Latin America," he said.
END
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