Demography, solidarity and responsibility: the challenges of today’s families
The World Meeting of Families: an opportunity for a new impulse in the service of families
Brussels, 21st of June 2022
“We left moved and very encouraged from our meeting with Pope Francis last week. We now have the responsibility to continue our action. This is all the more so since the Holy Father has endorsed our positions of recent years, confirming us in our double mission: to bring the voice of families to European institutions and to inspire family networks”. This is the reaction of the President, Vincenzo Bassi, following the meeting of the delegates of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) on June 10, 2022, on the eve of the X World Meeting of Families (22–26 June 2022).
Pope Francis indeed quoted in his speech two recent resolutions of the FAFCE Presidential Council, speaking of several challenges for families today.
“Now – continues Vincenzo Bassi – although keeping a light structure, we need resources more than ever and to join forces, and to combine our action with that of other realities inside and outside the Church. The challenges mentioned by Pope Francis in his speech are challenges for all of us, like the pandemic of loneliness, because, as he said, this is perhaps the challenge that lies behind all the others. I would also like to thank once again all those who have made this work possible during 25 years, starting with the first Presidents and Secretaries Generals (Jean-François Chaumont, Christine von Stefenelli, George Nothhelfer), and especially to Antoine Renard, our Honorary President, who had the intuition to open a permanent office in Brussels, with Maria Hildingsson, FAFCE former Secretary General. To continue this work, it is urgent to develop and support family networks in the service of the Church as an antidote to the pandemic of loneliness. The World Meeting of Tomorrow’s Families is an important moment in this sense”.
The President of FAFCE will speak at the world meeting in Rome with his wife, Carla Di Lello, during the conference Young and old together for the Church of tomorrow. Other delegates of catholic family associations fo Europe will be present as well.
The pontifical audience of June 10 was followed by a conference which aimed to “Celebrate the beauty of the Family”, and which brought together high-level representatives of different institutions and organisations, with the participation of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), the Delegation of the European Union to the Holy See, representatives European Union institutions, ambassadors, ministers, academics and representatives of European and national civil society.
Click to read the words of president Bassi and the full speech of Pope Francis
