Addressing the concerns of today’s families with a missionary spirit

“I thank you for all the work you are doing through the Church’s evangelizing mission in Brazil, in communion with Pope Leo XIV, as we renew our identity as pilgrims of hope, serving families and walking by their side during this providential time of the Jubilee Year.” With these words of gratitude, Dr. Gleison De Paula Souza, Secretary of the Dicastery, opened his video message during the 15th National Symposium on Families, held in Aparecida, Brazil, on 24 May.

A pilgrim family of hope: 5,000 people gather in Aparecida

Around 5,000 people gathered at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida on 24-25 May for the 15th National Symposium and Pilgrimage on Families, organized by the Episcopal Commission for Life and Family of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil. The event centered around the theme “A pilgrim family of hope”.

Participants included pastoral workers, members and representatives of various ecclesial movements working with families, as well as committed families from dioceses and parishes. They listened to Secretary De Paula Souza, who, for the first time since the election of Pope Leo XIV, offered his reflections on the challenges and opportunities of pastoral care of the family in this Jubilee Year.

Working together on the experience of forgiveness in wounded and struggling families

De Paula Souza said: “The pastoral care of the family in Brazil is experiencing a time of extraordinary missionary commitment. But the challenges are huge”. As missionaries committed to the pastoral care of the family, he emphasized that the true challenge lies in remembering that “to proclaim Christ, we must first encounter Him personally. This is the real missionary conversion Pope Francis spoke of in Evangelii Gaudium”. Starting from this conversion, we can take on the missionary task with courage and renewed hope – supporting families in crisis, families suffering for many different reasons. “Crises are part of every family’s story and journey,” De Paula Souza continued, “and in this light, we must work decisively in a pastoral way on the experience of forgiveness — something that can heal wounded relationships among its members, as Pope Francis reminded us.”

Lastly, he offered final words of encouragement to all participants, urging that we all “learn from Peter’s mission and, while safeguarding our Christian faith, look beyond — to all the families God places in our lives and in our pastoral care. We are called to meet the concerns of today’s families. This is the delicate service we can offer to families: ‘not closing ourselves off in our small groups, nor feeling superior to the world. We are called to offer God’s love to everyone’ — the love Christ gives us in the Gospel of the Family.”