They must show the family special love. This is an injunction that calls for concrete action….

Christians also have the mission of proclaiming with joy and conviction the Good News about the family, for the family absolutely needs to hear ever anew and to understand ever more deeply the authentic words that reveal its identity, its inner resources, and the importance of its mission in the City of God and that of man.

The Church knows the path by which the family can reach the heart of the deepest truth about itself. The Church has learned this path at the school of Christ and the school of history interpreted in the light of the Spirit.

She does not impose it, but she feels an urgent need to propose it to everyone without fear, and indeed with great confidence and hope, although she knows that the Good News includes the subject of the Cross. But it is through the Cross that the family can attain the fullness of its being and the perfection of its love….

—Excerpted from the conclusion of the encyclical, Familiaris Consortio: The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World.