It will be a widespread event, a multi-centered and social meeting of families and delegates in Rome, but able to involve family realities worldwide, in communion with the Pope. The 10th Meeting of Families was presented in a press conference in which were unveiled the painted icon of the event, made by Father Marko Rupnik, and the hymn with text and music by Monsignor Marco Frisina, accompanied by a video clip made by Director Luigi Pingitore. The Pope’s video message was also proposed again.
Cardinal Farrell: It Involves Families More
It will be “a global event but lived in the local Churches present in all the Continents, all in spiritual communion but not in the same place,” explained Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life. This “is not a limitation but an occasion to meet again around their Bishop so that not only those that have the financial possibilities to travel will participate,” he added.
The objective is clear: to involve families more if the impetus is to be given to family pastoral care. The beauty of this opportunity consists in the fact that not only the agents of family pastoral care, but all families of parishes and dioceses will be able to meet around their Bishop.” In fact, “more than abstract speeches, it’s the families themselves that can witness to the world in an incredible way the beauty of family love.”
“We have noted that in many families there is the desire to walk together in this very difficult time for all,” concluded Cardinal Farrell. The families are generous. They themselves make themselves available for the mission of the Church and to help other families. Let us not lose this opportunity to proceed enthusiastically in this decisive time to consolidate initiatives and start them again together with the families entrusted to us.”
Cardinal De Donatis: Concrete Aid
In any case, Rome will be the main venue of this multi-centered and widespread event. The Pope’s Vicar for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis affirmed that the “diocesan community has received with pleasure the invitation of our Bishop, Pope Francis, and considers this appointment not only as an extraordinary event but as “a precious occasion to dedicate ourselves enthusiastically to family pastoral care: spouses, families, and Pastors together.” Cardinal De Donatis explained that as well as “in the year dedicated to Amoris Laetitia, the preparation of the 10th Meeting of Families coincides with the first stage of the synodal process in our diocesan Church (October 2021 – April 2022).”
In this context, “the Diocese of Rome is doing its utmost so that all families of the world, especially those that won’t be able to come to Rome, will also be able to take part in the Meeting and live this extraordinary experience of faith.” A path that won’t be only theoretic but very concrete, with the support to “some initiatives of the diocesan Caritas, already present in the territory, in favor of families in difficulty.” Among them, the Saint Jacinta Emporium of Solidarity, in the Citadel of Charity of via Casilina Vecchia, a true and proper supermarket, where needy families can do their shopping for free; the House of the Immaculate Conception, at the Alessandrino, which receives homeless mothers and children, and offers aid and support; Casa Wanda, in the Park of Villa Glori, where elderly suffering from Alzheimer’s live and where the members of their family are also supported.
The Program of the Meeting of Families in Rome
Professor Gabriella Gambino, Under-Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity furnished the practical details of the Meeting of Families: the Pastoral Congress and Festival will be held in Paul VI Hall. Some 2000 delegates will be able to take part between families, Bishops, and priests, who will be invited directly by the Episcopal Conferences and the heads of Family Associations and International Ecclesial Movements. The number of delegates for each of the Episcopal Conferences will be proportionate to the dimension of the Episcopal Conference itself.” Instead, to the dioceses worldwide “we will send suggestions directly to organize the event, for the first time, at the local level.”
The Pastoral Congress in Rome foresees the holding of the Festival with families’ testimonies in the presence of the Holy Father for Wednesday afternoon, June 22. From the 23rd to the 25th in the morning the Pastoral Congress will include celebrations and Eucharistic Adoration, pastoral conferences, and a panel to put in dialogue pastoral experiences worldwide. Held on Saturday afternoon will be the Mass in Saint Peter’s Square. It will be a moment opened especially to families of the Diocese of Rome, a choice made so that on Sunday families in the rest of the world can celebrate in their own diocese.
All the events will be broadcast in streaming and in part also on television. The program of the Meeting of Families will end on Sunday morning with the Angelus led by the Holy Father.
Meeting of Families in a Key of Solidarity
The Director of the Office of Social Communications of the Diocese of Rome, Monsignor Walter Insero, explained the “social” aspects of the Meeting of Families, giving way to the site www.romefamily2022.com, available in Italian, English, and Spanish, which will facilitate the preparations for the Meeting, which will be an occasion “to express the expectation of the event and an invitation to follow an ideal path that for some will not be a physical trip, but will enable them to feel united in this multi-centered and widespread meeting.”
In these coming months, the Internet site will serve to spread the contents that can help the dioceses, Movements, and Associations to organize events in local communities.
“There will be an area for seven catecheses, which will be published progressively, to which will be connected videos with testimonies,” said Monsignor Insero. A section of the site is dedicated to gathering the materials produced by the Diocese of Rome and by the Dicastery, which are available to all and can be downloaded for free: logos, videos, texts, suggestions. Another section is reserved, instead, for concrete aid to three Roman projects of which Cardinal De Donatis spoke. In addition to the videos that will address the subjects of the catecheses, every month there will be interviews with Roman families, testimonies of families of other countries, and stories of saintly families.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
