{"id":291046,"date":"2005-04-25T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-25T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/familyfest-2005-to-the-pope-for-the-family\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:37:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T18:37:51","slug":"familyfest-2005-to-the-pope-for-the-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/familyfest-2005-to-the-pope-for-the-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Familyfest 2005 … to the Pope for the family"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cLove builds peace,\u201d<\/strong> the guideline of John Paul II\u2019s pontificate, was the leitmotif of the Familyfest 2005. At Campidoglio, two mothers from Jerusalem shared their experience of how friendship is possible between opposing factions such as Israelis and Palestinians. Along this theme, one of the 9 link-ups during the broadcast was dedicated to the Soweto district of Johannesburg, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela\u2019s struggle against apartheid was launched, and another link-up to Zagreb, in Southeastern Europe, a flash point which the Pope twice visited. The Familyfest audience of 4,000 in Zagreb consisted not only of Croatian Catholics but also of Muslims from Bosnia. When love burns out <\/strong>\u2013 The Familyfest was not only a festive international event which also focused on solidarity. It also dealt with the winter of crisis, one of the sorrowful \u201cseasons\u201d that many families are going through. \u201cThrough marriage a man and a woman are no longer two but one. To divide after having been so united means to make each other bleed to death. It means death.\u201d These are the words of Igino Giordani,<\/strong> writer, journalist, politician, father of four, and first director of New Families, which resounded in the square. \u201cTo conserve married love, there is no more cohesive force than love, the kind of love that comes from the love of God, which is superior to nature\u2019s vicissitudes and human moods… Spouses who lose time not loving each other are two persons who lose time dying.\u201d<\/em> A Spanish couple shared their struggle towards rebirth after the drama of division. <\/p>\n

\"\"The experience of suffering <\/strong>\u2013 A couple of journalists \u2013 the husband an Italian, and the wife an American \u2013 shared their precious experience of a relentless illness from which their life now draws a new fullness, as John Paul II wrote in his testament. \u201cTo live life to the full,\u201d the woman said, \u201cone must be constantly aware of death…. We have learned to look suffering in the face, and that face has a name for us: Jesus who accepts being nailed to the cross and feeling abandoned by God, in order to unleash his gifts onto the world.\u201d<\/em> Gifts that turn into a living experience of \u201clight, joy, and serenity, into a quality of life superior to the quantity of time I may have left in my life.\u201d \u201cWe do not want our marriage to be a closed door to the rest of the world;<\/strong> we want to share happiness with the less fortunate.\u201d This was the witness shared by a young couple (ages 21 and 24), who spent their honeymoon among the orphans of AIDS in Tanzania, who were the beneficiaries of the sum of money which represented the wedding gifts the couple would have received. <\/p>\n

\"\"Solidarity<\/strong> \u2013 No, it\u2019s not a sporadic fact. For 25 years now, New Families has facilitated 14,000 adoptions-at-a-distance. Another solidarity project was now launched at Familyfest 2005: \u201cOne family, one house project,\u201d<\/strong> which aims to give a home to needy families in the Philippines, as well as to tsunami victims in Thailand and Sri Lanka. The project was an idea which came from the poor families themselves. Contributions can be sent<\/em> through Bank Account no. 888885 under the name of Associazione Azione per Famiglie Nuove, Banca Intesa: CIN T ABI 03069 CAB 05092. Chiara Lubich\u2019s message <\/strong>\u2013 The last word of the Familyfest was reserved for Chiara Lubich\u2019s message: \u201cIndeed, the spring of true love wells up from God\u2019s love,<\/strong> which in turn makes of the family a source of social life, a seedbed of universal brotherhood.\u201d Chiara\u2019s wish for all is \u201cto be witnesses of this love everywhere, so that the time when \u2018that all may be one\u2019 may soon come.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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