Imo State government has indicated its intention to partner with the Catholic Church in its worldwide campaign for better families, since the family is believed to be the engine of every society.

 Governor Rochas Okorocha gave the notice when the representative of Pope Francis, Archbishop Vincenzo Pagilla, who is the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, paid a courtesy call on him at the Government House, Owerri, with the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Anthony Obinna, and his Umuahia counterpart, Bishop Lucius Ugorji, also in attendance.

Okorocha said he was not surprised that the Pope was concerned about the fate of families across the nations of the world, having seen the Pope visiting and eating with the sick, entering a mosque to pray with Muslims, and visiting refugees in war-ravaged areas to sleep and eat with them, adding that the Pope by all standard is a practical Christian who is doing what Christ did while on earth.

He promised that the state would key into the development of family values, as he described the ArchBishop of Owerri as a frank and honest man who preaches the gospel the way it is without fear or favour, and also encouraged the church to always see the good in everybody irrespective of their shortcomings.

The governor also promised to build a centre in Owerri for family reunion, which would be handed over to the Catholic Church. This he said would help in rebuilding the family.

 In his speech, the Pope’s representative and President Pontifical Council for the family, ArchBishop Vincenzo Pagilla, stated that the council’s main purpose was to foster peace and unity in families across the globe and help inculcate good morals to the family structure.

He said “if the family is right the world will be right, this is our message.”