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Massive pro-family rally floods Spain

As part of a huge public outcry a pro-life Mass drew hundreds of thousands of people to central Madrid on Sunday to hear the case for the traditional family, reports Peter Wooding, special to ASSIST News Service.

Although city officials and police would not give an official estimate of the number of people present, the Associated Press said the crowd in the Plaza de Colon appeared to number in the hundreds of thousands.

In a message played at the start of the service, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to families to keep their love strong.

"Dear families, do not let love, openness to life and the incomparable links that join your homes weaken," he said.

He added, "The Pope is by your side.”

The Mass was joined by the Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, who told the crowd that “the future of humanity depends on the family, the Christian family”.

"It is possible to conceive, organize and live marriage and family in a very different way from what is in fashion in so many areas of our society," he said in a homily.

More than 300 priests, 22 bishops and five more archbishops also attended the Mass.e Roman Catholic Church has been a fierce advocate of the traditional family in the face of Spain’s liberal Socialist Government, which has legalized gay civil unions and introduced measures making it easier to divorce.

A similar Mass and rally were held at this time last year in the same square, and organizers put attendance at well over a million. Then, bishops criticized the Spanish government over its social policies but this time there were no such remarks.

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TAGS: Spain pro-life Mass traditional family pro-family rally Pope Benedict XVI

[01/01/2009]

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