Families could turn their difficulties into moments of joy and satisfaction if they accepted their “crosses” and lived their lives through Christ, Archbishop Paul Cremona said yesterday.

About 4,000 people assembled at Ta’ Qali to celebrate World Family Day, an event that coincided with the heat of a referendum campaign on divorce.

Those who attended were handed yellow and white handkerchiefs, symbolising the Church’s flag, which they were urged to wave.

Although the word divorce was never mentioned, many married couples and families gave their testimonies about the importance of “lifelong marriage”, sacrifice, family unity and prayer.

Animating the event were anti-divorce campaigners DJ Pierre Cordina and his wife Mireille who interviewed people whose lives had been marked with difficulties but who were helped either by the Church’s various organisations or through prayer.

Interviewing Mgr Cremona at the end of the event, Mr Cordina asked why people should continue to get married in the Church.

The Archbishop replied this was a natural decision for true Catholics, which should have nothing to do with them preferring the church as a venue. “How can a Catholic, who holds the Lord Jesus dear, ask for Him to bless everything but not his marriage or his family,” Mgr Cremona asked.

While stressing that the activity was a celebration of all families, he focused on Catholic families, saying their mission was to give witness to other families to draw them closer to God.

Married life was a vocation and couples should not compare their relationships to “what they see on television” but to the exemplary life of Jesus Christ, who was always able to forgive.

Asked what the Church was offering families who were suffering, the Archbishop said the best response to the question was given by all the families who were interviewed on stage before him. “They did not speak about miracles, where their suffering disappears. They spoke of another type of miracle. About how they let Christ into their lives and remembered his words that we should all carry our own cross, accept it and find satisfaction from it.”

A number of Nationalist politicians attended the activity, including Foreign Minister Tonio Borg and Nationalist MPs Beppe Fenech Adami and Edwin Vassallo.

In a message marking World Family Day, the anti-divorce movement called for a family impact assessment before the introduction of divorce. It also proposed the setting up of a family coalition between the different stakeholders of civil society to lobby for the family. The coalition should work for legislative amendments and changes in policies with the aim of always putting the family built on everlasting marriage at the centre of society.

The movement said that, on May 28, the Maltese would have the opportunity to say no to divorce and give legislators a clear message to dedicate more time and resources to strengthen the family, on which the country’s strength depended.

They called for more funding for the University’s Centre for Family Studies so that, through research, one would find out what were the challenges and opportunities facing the Maltese family.