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Pope calls for world peace, stresses role of family

By IRNA

Rome : 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.”