By Matters India Reporter
Dublin: More than 500,000 people are to attend the Papal Mass of the forthcoming ninth World Meeting of Families (WMF) 2018 in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland.
“For the Pastoral Congress, we will have 37,000; for the Festival of Families, we will have 77,000 people; for the event at Knock Shrine, we will have 45,000 people and for the closing Mass in the Phoenix Park we will have 500,000 people,” Brenda Drumm, Media and Communications Manager of WMF, told Matters India, on July 20.
Pope Francis is scheduled to say the concluding Mass.
The 21-26 August events are promoted by the new Pontifical Council for the Laity, Family, and Life of the Vatican. The WMF is an initiative started by St. John Paul II in 1994, and since then held every three years in different international locations.
The theme chosen for Dublin is “The Gospel of the Family: joy for the world.”
“The exact number of Indian and Asian delegation for the WMF is not yet finalized as we are still checking through statistics. We will have this information shortly,” added Drumm.
The highest numbers of delegations are from Ireland, France, Spain, the UK, and the USA. There are 15,000 international visitors in total. The rest of the attendees are Irish, she said.
The WMF in Dublin gains importance in the aftermath of two recent Synods on the family (2014-15) and the apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (2016) of Pope Francis, families and those who engage in “family” issues.
The organizers are looking forward to this event which will give prominence to the Christian family and its specific gift of being “joy for the world” and light in the challenges contemporary life poses.
In various panels and workshops, parents, family members, priests, bishops, cardinals, religious, business leaders, industry experts will share a personal experience of issues that are a challenge in daily family life. Majority of the speakers are laity.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay and the president of the Catholic Bishops’ in India, is one of the main celebrants and homilist during the event. He is one of the advisors of Pope Francis and the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.
From Asia, among others, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, SDB, Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar will speak on “Care for our Common Home: why the family matters to the future of our planet.”
Others who will address include Rosa and Lauro Cueto of Couples for Christ, Philippines on “Looking to Jesus: Presenting Commitment to Marriage as a Path to Joy Today”, Prof. Gabriel Dy-Liacco, Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Philippines, on “Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults,” Daniel and Shelley Ee of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, Singapore on “When Plates Fly: Pope Francis on the Reality of Love in Family Life,” and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines on “Choose life: Pope Francis on the ‘throw-away’ culture” and “YOUCAT As a Resource of New Evangelization – To Rekindle Faith.”