The Pontifical Council for the Family received the Bishops of the 17 dioceses of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta for their ad limina visit, on May 6th. Thirteen Bishops were present. After the informal and friendly greetings, H.E. Msgr. Paglia addressed his salutation to everyone, indicating as the first aspect the desire to listen to the Bishops’ news and evaluations with regard to the pastoral care of the family and of life in their region.

H.E. Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin and President of the Episcopal Conference of Piemonte and Valle D’Aosta, speaking on behalf of all the Bishops, stressed that the milieu of the family is crucial and decisive in many sectors, not only the pastoral field, but also in the civil, cultural and political spheres. Unfortunately, the family is also subject to negative pressures aimed at shaping harmful choices that have already been made in several European countries. On the same morning, the Bishops of Piedmont, in a meeting with the Holy Father, spoke about many problems the family is experiencing: separation, divorce, cohabitation, abandonment, violence of various kinds; the resistance of many young people to move towards marriage, preferring other forms of non-family life; difficulties with respect to the Christian life, but also related to contingent but essential problems such as work, the home, having children and educating them, the economic crisis and future prospects. They recognized Pope Francis’ great care and sensitivity in support of the pastoral engagement of the Churches, as well as the search for appropriate pastoral means that strengthen trust in the Church, as already indicated by previous popes and especially John Paul II. Pope Wojtyla said: «I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced, and with solicitous care to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church, for as baptized persons they can, and indeed must, share in Her life. They should be encouraged to listen to the word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts in favor of justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God’s grace. Let the Church pray for them, encourage them and show Herself a merciful mother, and thus sustain them in faith and hope. However, the Church reaffirms Her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. (...) With firm confidence She believes that those who have rejected the Lord’s command and are still living in this state will be able to obtain from God the grace of conversion and salvation, provided that they have persevered in prayer, penance and charity» ("Familiaris Consortio" 84). The attitude of the Church − John Paul II writes in “Reconciliation and Penance”(34) − emphasizes «the coexistence and mutual influence of two equally important principles in relation to these cases. The first principle is that of compassion and mercy, whereby the Church, (...) always seeks to offer, as far as possible, the path of return to God and of reconciliation with him. The other principle is that of truth and consistency, whereby the Church does not agree to call good evil and evil good. Basing Herself on these two complementary principles, the Church can only invite Her children who find themselves in these painful situations to approach the divine mercy by other ways, not however through the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist until such time as they have attained the required dispositions».


Alongside problematic situations, in the ecclesial communities of the Piedmont, there are also other elements that are significant despite their problematic nature, such as the fact that a number of cohabiting couples, while considering their situation as a sort of “engagement,” ask, nevertheless, explicitly to prepare for the Sacrament of marriage. The Church’s attention should anticipate these situations through serious and convinced anticipatory education of children and teenagers to love, which follows that important and delicate phase of Christian initiation that has seen the Bishops of Piedmont make a strong, common choice with the publication of the Pastoral Note “Dalla parte dei piccoli” (“On the side of the little ones”). This Pastoral Note uses a metaphor dear to those involved in family ministry: the three-story house. The first floor is the preparatory phase, intended «to guide and motivate parents to make the conscious choice to baptize their child». The second floor goes from the celebration of Baptism to age three: «for the child this is the advantageous stage for the development of the religious sense». On the third floor, from age four to six, «in the family more room should be given to the biblical narratives, prayer, and the first moral education». There are also other metaphors in the letter, for example the bridge with three arches, of which baptismal ministry represents the first, while «all are fundamental». The second is the parish catechesis (7-12 years), and the third is mystagogy, which «can continue up to 16-18 years of age, and conclude with a solemn profession of faith and commitment to the Church».
 
The Bishops share the opinion that the future really depends on the family. In this sense, the family ministry cannot be just one field, but rather it is the interpretative key of the entire life of the Christian community: in fact, all the subjects, issues, times and challenges exist in the family. It’s necessary to rediscover the radical ministriality of the family in order to offer new ministries, at the turn of the millennium, to the Christian community and society as a whole. With regard to young people, above all, the pastoral action must be aimed at overcoming the image of a Church that only says “No” and dictates prohibitions, and showing instead that it is a community full of “Yes” and real opportunities for growth.
With regard to the pervasiveness of ideological issues such as the “gender” and homosexuality, H.E. Msgr. Laffitte, Secretary of P.C.F. and Consultant of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, recalled basic texts of Catholic doctrine (“Persona Humana” of 1975 and “On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” in 1986) and some positive words with which to orientate the education of all: the conversion heart, chastity and purity, the help of grace; always with a respectful and coherent approach.
 
Here, the video of the interview with msgr. Cesare Nosiglia