"Today, unfortunately, the family needs to be protected against insidious attacks, against programs opposed to everything that is sacred and true for us, to all the most noble and beautiful aspects of our culture." These words from the homily given by Pope Francis at the Mass in Manila were repeated by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, in an interview with Vatican Radio.

The Cardinal appealed to politicians, because "they are the leaders, and they must not be influenced by ideologies, forms of behavior or groups exercising pressure from an economic angle. I would say that politics should look toward the good of the person and the good of society. Obviously, politics is also based on principles, considerations and different opinions. I believe that the family as such is a fundamental, a basic institution."

The appeal voiced by the Pope, says the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, must be responded to courageously, in the light of the "pressure exerted by the international organizations on certain issues that also affect fertility or development" and pressures "coming from ideological groups with intellectual power or in quest of power for its own sake. Therefore, all of this needs to be put into the light. The Pope spoke clearly: we have to present the Gospel of the family, the beauty, the values of the family itself, which are objective values not only because they are the ones indicated by faith. Here, we must have, above all, the courage to be honest, to look toward a goal, and to do this—he concluded—for the good of both the person and the community."