The family based on marriage between a man and a woman is “not a simple social convention” but is “the fundamental cell of every society” Pope Benedict (pictured) has said.

Speaking this week to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican, he said that the proper education of young people needed appropriate settings.

“Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman,” he said.

The Pope added: “The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and States; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue.

“It is in the family that we become open to the world and to life and, as I pointed out during my visit to Croatia, ‘openness to life is a sign of openness to the future’.”

Policies which undermined the family, he warned “ threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself”.

The Pope also spoke about the importance of education, which he said was “a crucial theme for every generation” as it determined the healthy development of each person and the future of all society”.

Education, he said “thus represents a task of primary importance in this difficult and demanding time.”

Educational institutions, the Pope added, also played a “similarly essential role in the development of the person”.

Such institutions, he said were “the first instances which cooperate with the family and they can hardly function properly unless they share the same goals as the family”.

There was a need for educational policies which ensure that schooling is available to everyone but which also “show concern for a balanced personal growth, including openness to the Transcendent”.

He noted: “The Catholic Church has always been particularly active in the field of education and schooling, making a valued contribution alongside that of state institutions. It is my hope that this contribution will be acknowledged and prized also by the legislation of the various nations.”

In that context, he also said that such policies also called for respect for religious freedom.

Religious freedom, the Pope said “has individual, collective and institutional dimensions”.

Religious freedom was the “first of human rights, for it expresses the most fundamental reality of the person”.

He said: “All too often, for various reasons, this right remains limited or is flouted.”

“In many countries Christians are deprived of fundamental rights and sidelined from public life; in other countries they endure violent attacks against their churches and their homes.

“In other parts of the world, we see policies aimed at marginalising the role of religion in the life of society, as if it were a cause of intolerance rather than a valued contribution to education in respect for human dignity, justice and peace.”

He noted that “the Christian vision of man was the true inspiration for the framers of Germany’s Basic Law, as indeed it was for the founders of a united Europe”.

He also referred to what he called “several encouraging signs in the area of religious freedom” including last year’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights upholding the presence of the crucifix in Italian schoolrooms.