Everything is ready for the 10th World Meeting of Families, which begins this Wednesday in Rome. Dioceses worldwide will be able to follow the event and celebrate it locally by completing the assignment Pope Francis has given them.
POPE FRANCIS
The meeting will take on a multicentered and widespread format. In the same days, each diocese will be able to be the focal point for a local meeting for its own families and communities.
The meeting seeks to promote marriage as a primary vocation—stressing that it is as important as the priesthood or consecrated life. Of the 62 guests invited to the talks, coming from 17 different countries, the majority will be spouses and only three will be priests.
ANNA CHIARA GAMBINI
Writer
It is very edifying for us as parents, husband and wife, who have chosen a vocation in the same category as the priesthood or consecrated life. It is nice because it is the families who have made themselves seen.
On the first day of the event, there will be a Festival of Families featuring artists such as Il Volo accompanied by the philharmonic orchestra of the Marche, an Italian region bordering San Marino.
The main part of the meeting will be held in the Pope Paul VI Hall of the Vatican, which can hold 2,000 people. Over the course of the five-day event, a total of 3,500 people are expected to attend.
The speakers will dicuss the missionary role of families, the role of the elderly, intergenerational dialogue and the need for greater support for interfaith couples. Another important message of the meeting is the topic of forgiveness as the axis of the family and the path to holiness.
Various Roman parishes are also expected to attend and they will organize their own activities parallel to the event.
RM
TR: KG
