Rome, Jan 1, IRNA, Pope Benedict XVI marked the start of 2008 with an appeal Tuesday for world peace and safeguarding family values.
The Catholic Church celebrates January 1 as World Day of Peace, and the pope used a morning Mass and a window appearance before thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square to mark the occasion.
He called for ‘the gift of peace: for our families, our cities and the whole world’.
Benedict returned to a theme central to his papacy, speaking of the importance of the traditional family based on the marriage between man and woman.
“Mankind is a big family,” he said, stressing the link between family and peace.
Benedict said mankind cannot live in peace unless it is inspired by the same values that hold a family together.
“Family is the first and irreplaceable educator of peace,” Benedict said.
“Denying or restricting the rights of the family threatens the very foundations of peace.”