Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia

In promoting the traditional family as good for society and the world, the Catholic Church sees it as “the first roadblock” against the “dictatorship of individualism,” said the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, council president, said, “an individualistic civilization leads to each person putting him- or herself before all else.

The family is the first roadblock because it is the first ‘we,’” he told Catholic News Service. “When the Book of Genesis says, ‘It’s not good for the man to be alone,’ . . . it’s speaking about the very essence of the human person and the need for a family that is written in the heart of every person,” he said.

The family is the first and most important place for educating good citizens, Paglai said.

It is the place people learn “to live collectively, to care for one another, love others, generate and produce life, create relationships between those who are different, forgive others, help others and dream about the future.”