The World Meeting of Families is a gathering of the Roman Catholic Church that has occurred every three years since 1994. It is organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which "promotes the pastoral care of families, protects their rights and dignity in the Church and in civil society, so that they may ever be more able to fulfill their duties." It is the largest gathering of Catholic families in the world. The most recent meeting took place in Rome, Italy in 2022 (it was supposed to be held in 2021, but was postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Events +World Meeting of Families events Date City Country Theme Notes 1994 Rome Italy The Family, the Heart of the Civilization of Love 1997 Rio de Janeiro Brazil The Family: Gift and Commitment, the hope of humanity 2000 Rome Italy Children: Springtime of the Family and of the Church Part of the Great Jubilee 2003 Manila Philippines The Christian Family: Good News for the Third Millennium. Scheduled to be the first papal visit to the Philippines in the 21st century and 3rd millennium and the fourth visit overall, but cancelled and instead the first in the said century and millennium is Pope Francis' visit to the country 12 years later in 2015 because Pope John Paul II was not able to attend physically due to the progression of his Parkinson's disease. 2006 Valencia Spain Handing on the Faith in the Family 2009 Mexico City Mexico The Family: Teacher of Human and Christian Values 2012 Milan Italy Family, Work & Celebration 2015 Philadelphia United States Love is our mission: The family fully alive 2018 Dublin Ireland The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World Pope Francis's visit to Ireland was centred on the meeting. 2022 Rome Italy Family love: a vocation and a path to holiness Was originally scheduled to be held on the 5th Anniversary of the post-Synod of Youth Apostolic Exhortation of Amoris laetitia and three years after the promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation of Gaudete et Exsultate However, the 2021 World Meeting of Families was later postponed to June 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
See also World Youth Day
References
External links World Meetings of Families on the dicastery's website 2018 meeting website archived with the Wayback Machine