World Meetings of Families

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© Vatican Media

 

The year 1994 was declared as the "International Year of the Family" by the United Nations. Even in the Church, Pope John Paul II wanted a Year of the Family to be celebrated at the same time, and it ended with the First World Meeting of Families, held in Rome on October 8 and 9, 1994.

Since then, every three years, a World Meeting of Families has been held in various places around the world, beginning with an international theological-pastoral Congress and ending, in the Pope’s presence, with a celebration of families and a final great Eucharistic celebration. The 10th World Meeting of Families, due to the pandemic, was held with a new mixed formula (in-person and online), and was multi-centered and widespread (in all dioceses throughout the world).

                                    

I   St. John Paul II –  1994 (8-9 October) Rome (Italy). In the context of the Year of the Family

"The Family, the Heart of the Civilizaton of Love”

 

II  St. John Paul II – 1997 (4-5 October) Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

“The Family: Gift and Commitment, the hope of humanity”

 

III   St. John Paul II –  2000 (14-15 October) Rome (Italy). In the context of the Great Jubilee of 2000

“Children: Springtime of the Family and of the Church”

 

IV   St. John Paul II –  2003 (25-26 January) Manila (Philippines)

The Christian Family: Good News for the Third Millennium” 

 

 Benedict XVI – 2006 (8-9 July) Valencia (Spain)

 “Handing on the Faith in the Family”

 

VI  Benedict XVI – 2009 (17-18 January) Mexico City (Mexico)

“The Family: Teacher of Human and Christian Values”

 

VII  Benedict XVI –  2012 (2-3 June) Milan (Italy) 

“Family, Work & Celebration”

 

VIII  Francis – 2015 (26-27 September) Philadelphia (USA) 

“Love is our mission: The family fully alive"

 

IX  Francis – 2018 (22-26 August) Dublin (Ireland)

“The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World”

 

Francis – 2022 (22-26 June) Rome (Italy) and in all the dioceses throughout the world

"Family love: vocation and path of holiness"