The father of a family reputed to be the largest in Spain has died aged 56 after a battle with cancer.
José Maria Chema Postigo and his wife Rosa Pich were advised not to have any more children after their second and third died from heart problems – but they went on to have 14 more.
Jack Valero, press officer for Opus Dei in Britain, paid tribute to Postigo on Twitter, saying he and his wife were a “great example of marriage as a way to holiness”.
Mr Valero told the Catholic Herald he had been to visit Postigo in hospital. The nurses said that Mr Postigo was the most accompanied patient they had ever cared for because he was always surrounded by visitors.
Rosa Pich, writing in Spanish on Instagram, said: “God is our Father. He is very good although sometimes we do not understand. An hour ago Chema has gone to Heaven forever, forever, forever… We do not know well what God has prepared for those who are faithful. I want to thank you again for all your support, prayers and affection. If we have managed to bear this situation peacefully, it is because many people have been praying.
“We continue to count on your prayers. Thank you!”
The Postigo-Pich family travelled the world working for the Family Development Foundation, which runs Family Enrichment programmes based on the Harvard Case Study method as applied to family life.
The family were awarded the European Large Family Award in 2015 for their work with the charity Menudos Corazones, which helps children who suffer from heart problems.
Three of their children passed away from complications from heart conditions – their eldest aged 22, their second and third at 18 months and 10 days.
In a 2014 interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Rosa Pich said: “I have a lived faith, thank God, otherwise we would not have been able to bear the death of these two children in four months.
“People would say to me, ‘But Rosa, don’t you want to throw yourself out of the window?’ Yes, if we had not had this faith I would have committed suicide, but thank God I have it.”
In a book about how to raise a large family – How to be Happy with 1, 2, 3 Children – Rosa Pich wrote: “The secret for any family, above everything, is that the spouses love each other. That gives security to the children and saves you many problems.”
A million protest against gender ideology in schools
The organisers of a protest against the teaching of gender ideology in Peru’s schools say that more than 1.5 million people attended marches around the country.
The “Don’t Mess With My Children” campaign was provoked by efforts to introduce gender ideology into the national curriculum.
Under the proposed curriculum, children will be taught that gender is something which is chosen and not determined by your biological make-up.
Demonstrations took place around the country last week including the nation’s capital, Lima.
Members of Congress including Julio Rosas and Edwin Donayre were in attendance, according to the Catholic News Agency.
Speaking at the event in Lima, Fr Luis Cusco, episcopal vicar of the family and life commission for the Archdiocese of Lima, said that parents should have the right to decide what their children are taught.
“We are in a war over morals, a spiritual war, and the battlefield is the minds of their children, and we are going to defend it till the day we die,” he said. More than 85 per cent of Peruvians consider themselves to be Catholic.
Ghana rededicated to Sacred Heart
Cardinal Giusseppe Bertello, the former papal nuncio to Ghana, has returned to the country to mark its 60th anniversary of independence.
Cardinal Bertello, nuncio from 1987 to 1991, presided over the re-consecration of Ghana to the Sacred Heart of Jesus at an ecumenical and interfaith prayer service at Holy Spirit Cathedral last week. More than 1,000 people, including the president, attended. The cardinal also celebrated a thanksgiving Mass.
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