Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter visited the Vatican March 24-26 to work out the broad issues of the Roman Catholic 8th World Meeting of Families to be held in Philadelphia in September 22-27, 2015.
The Vatican signed a ceremonial agreement with the city of Philadelphia. Though the international gathering will be open to families and people of different faiths, including those with no faith at all, the meeting will emphasize Catholic teaching about the family and openness to life. The church wants to engage the wider society in dialogue on family issues.
It is anticipated that Pope Francis will visit Philadelphia for at least part of the event, though confirmation from the Vatican is not expected until much closer to the event. The pope has also been invited to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, which has never been done before. And the Secretary General of the United Nations has invited the pope to speak to the UN General Assembly. Whether all of these invitations would be tied together is unclear.
Church organizers say that the aim of the global meeting will be designed to discuss the challenges that families face today in a positive way with courage and intelligence.
“Corbett and Nutter told Catholic News Service they are excited about hosting the World Meeting of Families and would love to have Pope Francis attend. The family is “so important to society and, particularly in this day and age, I think we see very much a greater need for greater emphasis on the family,” Corbett said.
Nutter said making Philadelphia the destination of a papal visit would have “great meaning to the millions of Catholics and other people of faith” in the United States. The pope “is a world leader, and so whether you are Catholic or not, people are paying attention to what’s going on with Pope Francis, and certainly with the Catholic Church,” he said.
The Catholic Church is using the family as a launching pad to promote its teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, abortion and contraception and Sunday rest. The 8th World Meeting on the Family will certainly advance those objectives.
The Vatican uses global events like these to push its principles into the public arena where there will certainly be differing views and where it can therefore get media airtime. The Vatican must strengthen its global profile in step with globalization, so that when world government comes into existence, Rome will be in a position to provide the moral religious component to the new world order.