Pope defends strong family values

POPE Benedict XVI denounced the “disintegration” of family life in Europe yesterday and called for couples to make a commitment to marry and have children, not just live together, as he reaffirmed traditional Catholic family values during his second and final day in Croatia.

Benedict also voiced the Vatican’s opposition to abortion at an open-air Mass at Zagreb’s hippodrome, the highlight of his trip to mark the local church’s national day of families.

Tens of thousands of people, waving small plastic Croatian and Vatican flags, began arriving before dawn at the field muddied by overnight thunderstorms.