Children are a gift and a blessing of God for family and society, whom we must appreciate and educate in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ and of the Christian values. Children must be grown with parental love and maxim responsibility, through prayer and education for good deeds.

In today’s secularized society, in time of economical and financial crisis, but mostly of spiritual crisis, in which the Christian family is faced with serious economical, moral, social and spiritual problems, the promotion and consolidation of the sacred institution of the family on the basis of the permanent evangelical values, on kindness and responsibility, on dignity and solidarity, must be a permanent preoccupation of the Church and of the whole society.

Today, on the occasion of the International Children’s Day, we congratulate and bless all children, all the natural and spiritual parents, especially the educators and professors, both male and female, and all those who help children to feel the love and blessing of Christ for them.

Let us pray God, especially now, in time of poverty and uncertainly, to protect all children, all parents and all those who help the families who give birth to children and grow them up in the holy faith, in the love for God and for their neighbour, for the glory of the Holy Trinity, for the joy of the family, for the welfare of the Church and of the Romanian people!


† Daniel

Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church