Pope Francis spoke these words yesterday during the meeting with families in Tuxtla Gutierrez, in the state of Chiapas, where a celebrating crowd of 50,000 welcomed him. "I Prefer—said Francis—a family that makes repeated efforts to start again, to a society that is narcissistic and obsessed with luxury and comfort. I prefer a family whose face is worn by sacrifice to faces covered with make-up who know nothing about love and compassion."

Among the testimonies was that of Humberto and Claudia Gomez, a divorced and remarried couple, who described their experience: Humberto was previously unmarried, and Claudia was divorced with three children. Civilly married for 16 years, they also have a child who, now at age 11, is an altar boy. For three years they have been members of a group of remarried divorcees accompanied by the Church. "As remarried divorcees, we do not have access to the Eucharist—said Humberto, also on behalf of his wife, who is a social worker in a prison—, but communion is found in the poor, the sick and the abandoned. We try to transmit the love of God that we have experienced. It is wonderful to have a marriage and a family, in which the center is God," they concluded, before the Pope held them in a long embrace.

At the conclusion of the event, Francis asked those present to renew their marriage vows in their hearts; he told engaged couples to "ask for the grace of a faithful family;" and he urged everyone not to forget St. Joseph, the faithful and silent guardian of the family.