Among themes that Pope Francis touched upon a few days ago, in his discourse to the bishops of South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland were the following: Abortion, violence against women, separation and divorce, crisis in the family, as well as diminished demographical and vocational situations. According to Pope Francis, “abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds after succumbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God’s gift of sexuality and the right to life of the unborn.” Pope Francis noted, “In addition, the rate of separation and divorce is high, even in many Christian families, and children frequently do not grow up in a stable home environment.” This can be seen by the effect that “catholic families have fewer children, with repercussions on the number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Some Catholics turn away from the Church to other groups who seem to promise something better.”
 
Among responses to these problems, Pope Francis advised meeting the spiritual needs of the people as well as the material ones: “In addressing these pastoral needs, I ask you to offer, in addition to the material support which you provide, the greater support of spiritual assistance and sound moral guidance, remembering that the absence of Christ is the greatest poverty of all.” Among fundamental themes, he noted that “the holiness and indissolubility of Christian matrimony, often disintegrating under tremendous pressure from the secular world, must be deepened by clear doctrine and supported by the witness of committed married couples.” Christian marriage, reiterates Pope Francis, “is a lifelong covenant of love between one man and one woman; it entails real sacrifices in order to turn away from illusory notions of sexual freedom and in order to foster conjugal fidelity.” The Holy Father also encouraged their marriage preparation programs based upon the teaching of St. John Paul II: “Your programs of preparation for the sacrament of matrimony, enriched by Pope John Paul’s teaching on marriage and the family, are proving to be promising and indeed indispensable means of communicating the liberating truth about Christian marriage and are inspiring young people with new hope for themselves and for their future as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.”
 
The entire discourse is available at>>