World Meetings of Families

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”

V 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”