Marriage is not an unattainable ideal, Pope tells World Meeting of Families (Vatican News)

“Family life is not a beautiful ideal, unattainable in reality,” Pope Francis said as he opened the 10th World Meeting of Families on June 23.

“Marriage is not a formality to be fulfilled. You don’t get married to be Catholic with the label, to obey a rule, or because the Church says so, or to throw a party,” the Pope told an audience of about 2,000 families, gathered from around the world for the three-day meeting. Fortified by the grace of sacramental marriage, he said, “God makes it a wonderful journey—to be taken together with Him, never alone.”