In September and October FAFCE was present at three events across the Atlantic : the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, USA, a Congress for a Culture of Life and Family in Bogotá, Colombia, and the World Congress of Families, in Salt Lake City, USA.
FAFCE’s President Antoine Renard, represented our Federation, along with Francesco Belletti (Italy), Marie Oujezdská (Czech Republic) and Edit Frivaldzsky (Hungary) at the World Meeting of Families which gathered families from across the world around the theme “Love is our mission: the Family Fully Alive”. The Meeting is held every three years since its commencement in 1994, at the initiative of Saint John Paul II and is the biggest Catholic gathering of families. A four day long congress with 15 000 participants from across the world opened the meeting with 80 conferences on family related topics. The conference was followed by a family festival and all in all 1,3 million people participated in the final part with Pope Francis. The Pope concluded the meeting with a strong message to all families:
“What kind of world do we want to leave to our children? We cannot answer these questions alone, by ourselves. It is the Spirit who challenges us to respond as part of the great human family. Our common house can no longer tolerate sterile divisions. The urgent challenge of protecting our home includes the effort to bring the entire human family together in the pursuit of a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. May our children find in us models and incentives to communion, not division! May our children find in us men and women capable of joining others in bringing to full flower all the good seeds which the Father has sown! (…) May God grant that all of us may be prophets of the joy of the Gospel, the Gospel of the family and family love, as disciples of the Lord. May he grant us the grace to be worthy of that purity of heart which is not scandalized by the Gospel! “
A few weeks later in October, FAFCE was invited by the Colombian Bishop’s Conference to speak at a strategic congress for a culture of life and family gathering NGOs representatives from Colombia and neighbouring countries. Sharing FAFCE’s experience in Europe our Secretary General Maria Hildingsson contributed to the debates on how to professionalise work in favour of life and family, activities which are often based on the good will of volunteers.
At the end of October the ninth World Congress of Families took place in Salt Lake City. Over 3000 participants from 50 countries attended the event during five days around the theme “Family: the promise begins with me”. FAFCE’s Secretary General was one of the speakers on “Europe and the family, past, present and future”.
These international meetings illustrate the shared interest for the role of the family in Society. As article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recalls, the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society – a human and universal truth!
