Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 370 - Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 370 – Part I. Why should the State protect and promote families?

(Youcat answer) The welfare and future of a State depend on the ability of the smallest unit within it, the family, to live and develop.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2209) The family must be helped and defended by appropriate social measures. Where families cannot fulfill their responsibilities, other social bodies have the duty of helping them and of supporting the institution of the family. Following the principle of subsidiarity, larger communities should take care not to usurp the family's prerogatives or interfere in its life.

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) No State has the right to intrude on the basic cell of society, the family, by its regulations or to question its right to exist. No State has the right to define the family differently, for the family’s commission comes from the Creator. No State has the right to deprive the family of its fundamental functions, especially in the area of education. On the contrary, every State has the duty to support families with its assistance and to ensure that its material needs are met.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2210) The importance of the family for the life and well-being of society  (Cf. GS 47 § 1) entails a particular responsibility for society to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Civil authority should consider it a grave duty "to acknowledge the true nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster them, to safeguard public morality, and promote domestic prosperity" (GS 52 § 2). 

(This question: Why should the State protect and promote families? is continued)