Benedict XVI
I am pleased to announce the 7th World Meeting of Families will take place, God willing, in Milan, Italy in the year 2012. The theme will be: "The family, work and feast".

The Pope recalled that the family is a rich heritage of moral and spiritual values that needs to be protected to pass it on intact to the next generations.

He also stressed twice the importance that the family grows from the marriage between a man and a woman and called for legislation to protect this right.

Benedict XVI
Today more than ever we need the testimony and the public commitment of all the baptised in order to reaffirm the dignity and the unique and irreplaceable value of the family, founded on the marriage of a man and a woman and open to life.

Legislative and administrative measures that support families in their inalienable rights also have to be supported. They are necessary in order for them to continue their extraordinary mission.

The Pope's special envoy to the meeting, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, recalled the special role that all family members have in the formation of human and Christian values. He also gave specific advice on educating children.

Card. Tarcisio Bertone
Vatican Secretary of State
A good education involves tenderness and affection, and at the same time, reasoning and authority. Both parents, the father and the mother, have to be near their children and cultivate dialogue with them.

Benedict XVI, who watched the ceremony via satellite from the Vatican, encouraged Christian families to face daily lifes challenges by reading the Bible and praying with the family.