Vatican

World Meeting of Families

The Vatican has announced that two major international ecclesial events will be postponed.

In a statement released Monday afternoon, the Director of the Holy See Press Office confirmed that Pope Francis, together with the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, has decided to postpone the World Meeting of Families and World Youth Day.

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The World Meeting of Families,  scheduled to take place in Rome in June 2021, has been re-scheduled for June, 2022.

Likewise, the next World Youth Day, set to take place in Lisbon in 2022, will now be held one year later, in August of 2023.

The decision was made, according to the press release, on account of the current health situation and its consequences for the movement and gathering of young people and their families.  

Prudence and safety

In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Farrell explained that the organizational, logistical, and economic aspects of planning such events  were important factors in the decision to postpone the events. Normally, planning for major international events of this kind takes place a year or more in advance. In these times, the Cardinal explained, “it would be imprudent of us to make that decision now, because we do not know exactly what the situation of our world will be as this pandemic comes to an end”.

It would be unreasonable to make plans for one’s family so soon after a major epidemic. Safety concerns are important too, Cardinal Farrell said: “It’s just not prudent” to have very large gatherings of people “until we know they are going to be safe”.

Time to learn

Cardinal Farrell focused on the importance of families, especially during a period when so many people are “locked down”. With so many people living closely together because of necessary health restrictions, families are learning how to care for each other more than ever before. It is precisely in family life, that we learn how to value others and to care for them. He said he prays that this might be “one of the aspects” of the coronavirus emergency “that will most affect us”.

One Family

The Cardinal said he believes the world will become “a smaller place” because we are learning that our lives are all interconnected. The Covid-19 emergency has affected every corner of the world, “which shows that the human race, we are all one family”. He said he hopes that “the greatest lesson we would all learn in this experience is precisely that: We are one family”. 

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