"When a man and a woman weave their lives forever in marriage, something big happens in the world. That family has a special mission," writes Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference and Archbishop of Genoa, at the end of a pastoral visit in the diocese. "A certain representation would have us believe that we live in a degenerate and broken society, dominated only by interest and corruption, selfishness and evanescence. That just is not true. There is of course much of this—and has this not always existed?—, but there is much more: simple people are healthy, alive and looking with sympathy and hope toward the Church." "How many people—observed the Cardinal—live with dignity and dedication! sacrificing themselves for their families, the children, their elderly and the sick." Thus, in the "love open to life" that exists between a man and a woman, in the fact that they are "the first training ground of virtue, not only the future of the couple is at stake, but also that of society, its future and its stability." "This is why—he concludes—we want more concrete and effective family policies for our country."