"It is foolish—he continued—to weaken the family, by creating new forms, although with the pretentious peculiarity that they confuse people and are like the Trojan horse of classic memory, intended to undermine culturally and socially the bearing nucleus of the person and humanity." "Love—said the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, echoing the Synod—is not just a feeling; it implies a decision. Children are not objects that can be produced, claimed or disputed over; they do not serve the desires of adults, but are rather the most vulnerable and delicate subjects, and they have a right to a father and a mother."

Although "economic difficulties affect the family cell," the desire for the family "remains alive, especially among young people, and prompts the Church, expert in humanity and true to her mission, to proclaim unceasingly and with deep conviction the 'Gospel of the family'." The latter, "as defined and guaranteed by the Constitution," he said, "continues to be the guarantee of our country, the beneficial moral and material network that allows people to not feel abandoned and alone in face of the difficulties and anxieties of the present and of the future. People sometimes talk about the Italian 'family values': while excess is not good for anything, the strong sense of family should make us proud, in Italy and abroad."