What makes the ideal couple?

Pope John Paul II has beatified a married Italian couple for having led model Catholic lives -- what virtues do you think warrant praise? Send us your views on what makes a successful couple, and how they should be celebrated.

EXTRA INFORMATION Pope beatifies married couple

Patience, humor, and kindness to each other always are the keys. My wife was brought up Catholic and I am an agnostic but we both feel these three should be the base of a solid and lasting marriage. -- P.E. Neumann, U.S.

I see a lot of these postings portray marriage as hinging on sex. I pity people who think relationships revolve solely on sex. No wonder divorce is so prevalant these days. There is so much more to life and marriage than sex. It seems most people confuse the two words. Look in a dictionary; sex and love have two distinctly different definitions. Sex is involved but after 20 years of marriage and 4 children I think these wonderful people had a love that was a lot deeper than their sex lives. -- Pat, U.S.

A good relationship is based on open communication, trust, respect and love. You must think of the person that you are involved in the relationship with as an equal, partner, friend, and a lover. -- Lynnetta Hand, U.S.

What a shame it is lay persons and religions alike are obsessed with the focus on sexuality as the main form of expression of love. Many comments reflect the lack of understanding of the denial to satisfy one's own senses as a means to embracing the Love from which the marital union is derived. -- Mike, U.S.

It's nice to see the Pope paying tribute to families. Staying together as a family is something that takes a great amount of work and determination in these times. However, I do not see how a sexless marriage is so holy. God created sex for the bonding of a married couple as well as for procreation. There is nothing dirty or evil about marital sex, and the fact that they promote this view is damaging. -- Adrianne, U.S.

I know many couples who have been married many years and lived a good life but don't live in Rome, aren't necessarily of Italian descent and didn't have children who went into the seminary or convent. Does this make any of you wonder what the criteria is to be beatified? -- Cheryl, U.S.

This is a sad commentary on married life. Not only did they ignore God's word but they ignored their marital vows. So most married couples now qualify for sainthood. -- J.H.H., U.S.

For one, they should have a great sex life. To decide after 20 years of marriage it is better to sleep in separate beds and live as brother and sister demonstrates a view on sex that as a Christian (especially as a Christian) I cannot agree with. It frustrates me that the RC church has such a low view of marital sex. It seems to me God would have us be great lovers within a relationship solidified with a covenant! -- Rogier Bos, The Netherlands.

Having spent the last 15 years untwisting my mind after 16 years of Catholic education and growing up in a highly devout Catholic household, this story simply affirms my convictions -- that among other things the Catholic Church has a twisted view of marriage and of human sexuality. -- David, U.S.

A good couple have to be good friends, and there must be no secrets, even when the truth hurts. -- Melanie Bates, South Africa.

An ideal couple know that love isn't dependent on their feelings all the time. Love is more than feeling it is a decision. Couples who truly love each other will experience times of fluctuating feelings. That is how emotions operate. A commitment of the will brings steadfastness to the marriage. Of course it helps to have Christ Jesus living in your heart. -- Mary Tuttle, Japan.

This just proves once again how Christianity (though it could be any religion) judges you. Don't they teach that it is God who judges? Besides, if sleeping in separate beds makes you a holier person then I don't want to be good. This is just Christianity making it obvious how uncomfortable they are with modern times. God is love right? I rest my case. -- Poyla, U.S.

Most of the time we see only where clergies, nuns and monks are canonised. Forgetting one fact that they were born by couples. So this beatification of Italian couple proves couples can also attend sainthood. If couples love each other, by this I mean love in all its unification as God commanded, then I see no reason why couples shouldn't be saints. -- Mike Okigbo, Ukraine.

It's nice that the Pope continues to encourage people to have more Catholics completely ignoring the world overpopulation situation! If every couple on the earth has four children, how many people will we have in 30 years? You do the maths. -- S Pinette, U.S.