Co-habiting couples were among those married by Pope Francis at a ceremony in Rome this weekend.
In the first ceremony of its kind for 14 years, the Pope celebrated the marriages of 40 people at a service in St Peter’s Basillica in Rome on Sunday.
Some have interpreted his choice of couples, which also included a man whose previous marriage was annulled and a single mother with a daughter from a previous relationship, as a sign that the forthcoming Synod on the Family might seek to express a greater tolerance on issues around Church teaching on the family.
In his homily the Pope said that the Church, making its way across “the desert of the contemporary world”, was composed mostly of families. He urged the couples not to feel discouraged when they argued or if daily life became “burdensome, and often, even nauseating”.
“It is impossible to quantify the strength and depth of humanity contained in a family: mutual help, educational support, relationships developing as family members mature, the sharing of joys and difficulties. Families are the first place in which we are formed as persons and, at the same time, the ‘bricks’ for the building up of society,” he said.
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