D. Jorge Ortiga

My intention was to talk about the family in all its beauty and complexity. I launched the challenge of ‘building [the family] on the rock’, starting from the physiognomy of conjugal love. I did not ignore, at the same time, various weaknesses: domestic violence, lack of dialogue and marital ruptures. The newly established Archdiocesan Family Support Service has been our linchpin in these areas, as well as a possible access to communion following discernment. I believe that the Church has been able to face the problems. It is necessary, however, to be aware that these are new problems which call into question ecclesial practices of many centuries and which therefore require a personalised, cautious and specialised approach.

The Archdiocese has been at young peoples’ sides in two ways. First, through its structures: the Youth Pastorate, the University Pastorate and the youth movements. I would remind you that one of them, Scouting, is the largest associative power in the region. With regard to the university world, I confess that I could not rest until I had built a University Pastoral Centre. It is right next to the University of Minho and is a space for receiving people, dialogue and culture. Secondly, we find it more important to listen to young people and give them a leading role than to offer ready-made responses.

The Archdiocese of Braga is grateful to all the priests who have lived their lives for the Church. We cannot, therefore, forget the generous soul and the sense of presence of Canon Melo in many civil and ecclesial situations. Opinions of him differed, but everyone recognizes that his priesthood was very interventionist, positive, and undeniably zealous.

Pope Francis is the Pope for today. He has been a master in the art of sowing hope, a leader of world importance and a pedagogue of timeless values. He attacks problems face-on when many only wash their hands of them: hunger, outsiders, refugees, the discarded, the economy, ecology, etc. People of this calibre and courage are rare. His commitment to the problems of the world, he also places in the Church. The reason is simple: a contradictory Church loses all its prophetic credibility. Basically, the contribution of Pope Francis has been to purify the Church so that it recovers its prophetic strength.