Plenary for the family

At 11:30 this morning in the John Paul II Hall, within the offices of the Vatican Press Centre, there was a Press Conference held to present the details of the XXI Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, which will take place in Rome from October 23-25, and the Pilgrimage of the Families to the tomb of Saint Peter on the occasion of the Year of Faith which is being organized under the theme of Family, living the joy of faith!, scheduled to take place on October 26 and 27 of this year.

During the Press Conference two new publications in Spanish and in Italian were presented.  They contain 35 texts written between 1999 and 2013 by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, on the themes of Family and Life.  The book was edited by the publication service of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Information pertaining to the Plenary Assembly was shared at the Press Conference by His Excellency, Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family; by His Excellency, Jean Laffitte, Secretary of the same Pontifical Council; by Monsignor Carlos Simón Vázquez, Under-secretary and by Father Gianfranco Grieco, OFM Conv., Office manager of the Dicastery and Director of the magazine entitled Family Life.

Intervention presented by His Excellency, Vincenzo Paglia

President of the Pontifical Council for the Family

On Monday of this week, Pope Francis issued the call for the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.  The Synodal gathering, as he noted, will take place from October 5 to 19, 2014.  This announcement sheds a new light on the events which will be celebrated in the coming days: the XII Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family (Rome, 23-25 October) which will have for its theme: Hew anthropological horizons and the rights of the Family, and the Pilgrimage of Families to the tomb of the Apostle Peter for the Year of Faith which has as its theme: Family, living the joy of faith! (26-27 October)

On the occasion of the celebration of these two significant events, we believed it to be opportune – and the indication of the Synod confirms this intuition – to prepare a book in Spanish and in Italian which contains 35 texts composed between 1999 and 2013 by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio – Pope Francis – on the themes of Family and Life.

The constant reminders issued by Pope Francis on the themes of Family and Life – even in Assisi he confirmed this pastoral passion – are welcomed by the Pontifical Council for the Family which is attentive and responsive to the instructions of the Holy Father, in which he has repeatedly highlighted the fragile and not very well protected role of the Family and of Life in the contemporary world, and the urgent need to reintroduce the Gospel of the Family and of Life in light of the love and mercy revealed by Jesus of Nazareth.

The new anthropological horizon which exalts the individual (concentrates always on the increasing importance of the I) and which weakens the we of the human community beginning with the family, makes the commitment of the Church all the more important as a prophetic force to reiterate the good news of the family in the postmodern world.

Unfortunately, the situation that has arisen in recent years tends more and more to weaken the family unit and causes increasing problems especially for those who are most vulnerable: children, unemployed young people, the elderly, grandparents etc.  As Pope Francis has repeatedly reminded us, the culture of waste continues to wound and to marginalize those who should work together for the common good in order to build a just, fair and equitable society.

The strength that the family unit possesses, the beauty of the family and the joyful witness of the Christian family are the sources of our support.  They will guide us both during the Plenary Assembly and the two-day pilgrimage which will follow.

We wish to promote a great celebration of the family around Pope Francis.  Rome wants and needs to become the Capital of the Italian and the world family.   It is good to be a family.  It is good to be a family: it is why we want to shout out toward the whole world, crying out mainly to families who are in need: to refugees, to immigrants, to the homeless, to the poor, to the abandoned, even to those who suffered death so recently in Lampedusa.

It is from the love of a family that the ability to be attentive to families who urgently need help is born.  If it is not good that man should be alone (Gn 2:18), neither is it good that the family should be alone.  Concern for the family unit must return to the centre of our culture, of politics, of economics, of finance, of the life of peoples and nations.  The family should always be the centre of attention and of the preoccupations of the post-conciliar Church.

With the celebration of the forthcoming Synod, Pope Francis wishes to remind us of the urgency of the family unit before it’s too late.  All dioceses throughout the world are invited to reflect on this subject, to rethink and to give new impetus to their efforts toward responding to the pastoral needs of the family.

The texts of other interventions provided at this morning’s Press Conference are available (in their Italian originals) on the Vatican website.