Mario Iceta, Bishop of Bilbao and Synodal Father, affirmed that"the pastoral care of the family is the backbone of the work that is carried out in a parish and can make the Church go out, as Pope Francis wants it to be. With his exhibition the XXVIII Course of update on the family Canon Law , organized by the School of Canon Law ofthe University of Navarra, was inaugurated. It was attended by a hundred canonists, lawyers, judicial vicars and priests from Spain, Portugal and Mexico.

He explained that the synod was divided into three main parts: the challenges of the family, the vocation of the family and its role in the family, which were dealt with respectively during the three-week assembly. mission statementThe assembly was attended by 270 bishops from all over the world, who worked in thirteen linguistic groups of between 20 and 24 prelates. "From my group came 150 contributions. A demanding, serious and hard work has been carried out". It was the first time that the daily interventions were not published in L'Osservatore Romano, as is customary, so that the synod fathers could speak more freely. "On the first day, the Pope marked the playing field by repeating to us that "doctrine is not to be touched" and that our mission statement was that of a pastoral deepening," commented the Bishop of Bilbao. It is estimated that the final document, which is currently on the table of Pope Francis, could come out in a few months.

Bishop Iceta referred to the topics discussed in the groups of work which were, among others, the loneliness in which many live, poverty, exclusion, the emotivist conception and not as submission of love. He appealed to the need for conversion staff and for the Church to be a true mother and listen to her faithful in the different stages of life. He also pointed out some of the current challenges: the transmission of the faith in the family, the need for a good preparation for marriage, the financial aid in the discernment of the faithful and pastoral accompaniment.