Pope Francis and the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life have announced that the 2021 World Meeting of Families will be held from June 23-27, 2021 in Rome and will focus on the theme “Family Love: A Vocation and a Path to Holiness.” As this World Meeting of Families (WMOF) will fall on the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical Amoris Laetitia, the meeting will reflect on the spirituality of the family in light of the call to holiness expressed in Gaudete et Exsultate.

As Pope Francis wrote in Amoris Laetitia, “The couple that loves and begets life is a true, living icon – not an idol like those of stone or gold prohibited by the Decalogue – capable of revealing God the Creator and Savior. For this reason, fruitful love becomes a symbol of God’s inner life (cf. Gen 1:28; 9:7; 17:2-5, 16; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3-4).” (AL 11)

The World Meeting of Families is held every three years, in rotating host dioceses across the globe. Each meeting begins with a Congress that invites married couples, families, pastors, theologians, and professionals with expertise on a variety of issues that affect family life together for workshops, talks, and discussions surrounding the theme. After the Congress, there is an all-day Festival of Families that invites all participants into a prayerful and joyful celebration of family life, usually held in a large stadium or arena with the participation of the Holy Father. Finally, the event concludes with Sunday Mass, customarily celebrated by the Holy Father, to bring the participants together as a family of families, the universal Church, in the name of Christ Jesus.

The last World Meeting of Families was held in Dublin, Ireland in 2018. You can visit their website or the USCCB’s page to read more about what the World Meeting of Families is like and to view the full WMOF catechesis.

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