I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to you for this initiative in bringing us together tonight in regard to such themes which are each one at the heart of the preoccupations of the Church and with which we have to deal with as pastors, teachers guides and parents. The theme with which I have been entrusted concerns the institution of the family which encounters difficulties and challenges such that could not have been foreseen only 30 or 40 years ago. There are many ways in which the question of the family may be considered, a specifically Christian way considers and concentrates on the mystery of conjugal and familial love, when it is imbued with the love of God through the means of the sacraments. This has always been the traditional approach of the Church up to Gaudium et Spes. .....