Fatherhood and motherhood originate in God, pope tells Fifth World Meeting of Families

Intermountain Catholic

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A boy lowers a Spanish flag as a priest walks past to bring Communion to pilgrims gathered at the closing Mass of the Fifth World Meeting of Families in Valencia, Spain. According to police estimates, over 1.5 million people attended the open-air Mass.

VALENCIA, Spain — At 6 a.m., the sun hadn’t yet begun to beat down on the mass of people gathered through the night near the Turia river in Valencia’s Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. Intermittent sleep was finally giving way to the first inklings of dawn, and a quiet excitement began to fill the city which would only celebrate one Mass that day, July 9.

After a week that had seen the progress of the Fifth World Meeting of Families and a tragic underground train derailment killing 42, the people of Valencia and the pilgrims gathered to celebrate the family and share Mass with Pope Benedict XVI in what soon became an expectedly hot day in the coastal city.

"At the origin of every man and woman, and thus in all human fatherhood and motherhood, we find God the Creator," Pope Benedict told the gathered clergy, diplomats, and families in his homily.

He continued: "Each generation, all parenthood, and every family has its origin in God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Building on the theme "The Transmission of Faith in the Family," the pope nailed the faith of children to their parents. "Faith is not merely a cultural heritage, but the constant working of the grace of God and our human freedom, which can respond or not to his call. Even if no one can answer for another person, Christian parents are still called to give a credible witness of their Christian faith and hope. You must ensure that God’s call and the good news of Christ will reach children with the utmost clarity and authenticity," the pope said.

First held in Rome in 1994, Pope John Paul II inaugurated the periodic World Meeting of Families to address the role and function of the family in the same way World Youth Day was begun as a way to bring youth together in prayer. At the closing Mass, Pope Benedict announced the next World Meeting of Families would be held in Mexico City in 2009.

According to police estimates, 1.5 million pilgrims had packed the streets, sidewalks, canals, and any tree they could climb to attend Mass with the pope. Asking any one of the pilgrims, however, would undoubtedly lead to much higher numbers.

For only the second time in 1700 years, the Holy Grail enshrined in the Cathedral of Valencia was used for consecration for the occasion of the closing Mass. Last employed by Pope John Paul II in 1982, the chalice had not been used since Pope St. Sixtus II used it in the third century.

According to Msgr. Jaime Sancho Andreu, head of the Valencia Archdiocese’s liturgy commission and curator of the Holy Grail, the agate cup made its way from Rome to Spain during the persecution of Emperor Valerian in the third century, entrusted to a Spanish soldier by St. Lawrence. The decorative base for the cup was created in the middle ages. Like other chalices thought to be the Holy Grail, its authenticity is debated; however, the history of this stone cup is well documented.

Welcomed to Spain by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, Pope Benedict spent the first minutes of his 16 hour trip to Valencia July 8 at the entrance to the subway station, which a few days earlier had witnessed the worst accident of its kind in Spanish history. Later that evening, the pope gathered with pilgrims at a festive vigil, telling parents that every child has his or her own "personality and character" and, no matter what, parents need to accept their children, including adopted children.

The pope urged people to "be sensitive, loving and merciful like Christ" even to people outside the family.

Families should not be "closed in on themselves," the pope said at the vigil, so children can learn that "every person is worthy of love, and that there is a basic, universal brotherhood that embraces every human being."

Returning to the Valencia airport as soon as the Mass had ended, the king and queen escorted the pope to his airplane, bowing to the Spanish flag as they passed. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero backed out of plans to attend the closing Mass the evening before the pope’s arrival.