Pope Francis gives strong warning to Filipino families

MANILA, Philippines — Pope Francis was firm in defending "openness to life" and the definition of the family in his homily before thousands of Filipino families on Friday.

Speaking at the Mall of Asia Arena on the second day of his stay in Manila, the Pope warned families against a present-day "ideological colonization," which he distinguished from political colonization the country suffered from in the hands of foreign powers in its history.

"Be attentive, be attentive ... There is an ideological colonization we have to be careful of that tries to destroy the family. It's not born of the dream that we've had with God from prayer and from the mission that God gives us. It comes from outside," he said.

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While not directly mentioning the recently passed contraceptives law in the country and movements pushing for same-sex marriage, Pope Francis slammed measures and ideas related to the "challenge of the growth of population" as well as to attempts to change the traditional family setup.

"The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage like relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life," he said.

Later on, he issued his strongest defense yet of Church teaching against contraception, saying "Be sanctuaries of respect for life, proclaiming the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death."

He also paid heed to Pope Paul VI, author of the encyclical "Humanae Vitae" reaffirming the Catholic teaching on married love, parenthood and the continued rejection of most forms of birth control.

"[Blessed Paul VI] knew the difficulties that families experience ... Paul VI was courageous, he was a good pastor, and he warned his sheep about the wolves that were approaching and from the heavens he blesses us today," Pope Francis said.

The Holy Father also condemned social inequality in the Philippines, which had forced many parents to seek employment abroad.

"The economic situation has called families to be separated--migration and the search for employment and financial problems strained many households," Pope Francis said.

"While all too many people live in dire poverty, others are caught up in materialism and lifestyles which are destructive of family life and the most basic tenets of Christian morality," he added.

The Philippines is the only country in the world — aside from the Vatican — where divorce is forbidden, a testament to the enduring power of Roman Catholicism that has flourished since Spanish colonizers imposed it nearly 500 years ago.

Outside the venue, thousands more await for Pope Francis' motorcade to pass the streets. On Saturday, the pope will fly to typhoon-ravaged areas in the Visayas to sympathize with disaster victims, hoping to bring with him the message of "mercy and compassion."