Those who have already registered are from more than 100 nations. Papa Francesco, at the end of the Mass of Sunday, September 27, will deliver the Gospel of Luke to the families of the great cities of the five continents - Kinshasa (Africa), Havana (America), Hanoi (Asia), Sydney (Australia) and Marseille ( Europe) - which later will be sent a million copies of the same text.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - A meeting in which families are the main protagonists and recipients, where they will witness to  life experiences in view of the Synod to build a church and social era in which the family once again takes pride of place.

This is the goal of the VIII World Meeting of Families to be held in Philadelphia September 22 to 27, on the theme: "Love is our mission. The family fully alive ", presented this morning at the Vatican by Archbishop. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family and by Msgr. Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia.

The meeting, which Pope Francis will also attend, said Msgr. Paglia, "The meeting that we are presenting in detail today is global; we want to be global, we want it to be seen and reported on worldwide." And Msgr. McIntyre, who is in charge of organization, reported that "currently more than 100 nations are represented in the current total amount of people who are registered". There will be also other Christian denominations and major world religious traditions, because "the family is the patrimony of all humanity, at all latitudes, in all cultures" and "is blessed with all religion."

"Philadelphia - said Msgr. Paglia - will be a great worldwide celebration of families: in the spectacle, we will be able to get a glimpse, we will have to show the beauty and the possibility of all humanity becoming a single family of peoples. It is the dream of peace; it is God’s dream.

This universality will be enshrined in the final gesture of the whole meeting: at the end of the Mass on Sunday, 27 September, Pope Francis will give the Gospel of Luke, the Good News of God's mercy, which is Jesus, to families from big cities on the 5 continents: Kinshasa (Africa), Havana (America), Hanoi (Asia), Sydney (Australia) and Marseille (Europe). This is a symbolic gesture that will announce the sending of a million copies of this book to the five cities involved: we want the Gospel of Mercy to be announced in the great cities of the world, especially in poorer and peripheral neighborhoods. We want to provide the nourishment of the Gospel to the families of the world so that they may build bonds of love between them, in the Church and in society. On this occasion, I cannot omit thanking the American Bible Society for making this highly significant gesture possible. "

The Archbishop of Philadelphia then announced that today "there are 11,821 people who have paid registration in the Meeting. This figure includes 1,148 people who have registered for the Youth Congress (ages 6-17 years). Currently more than 100 nations are represented in the current total amount of registered, with the United States in first place, followed by Canada, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria. There are 50 or more people registered for the Congress from the following countries (in alphabetical order): Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland and Vietnam ". "Currently there are 6,100 qualified people to volunteer and 3,400 volunteers have enrolled for the events, but it is important to note that not all events have been set since the complete itinerary of the Papal Journey is not yet official."

Msgr. Chaput also explained that site Official Bus Operator Registration wmof.goground.com was launched for transport and that for all the detailed and updated information on the routes of public transport timetables and visitors are invited to consult the KnowB4UGoPHL www.worldmeeting2015.org .

The World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia is also present on Facebook (World Meeting of Families 2015) (Encuentro Mundial de las Familias - Philadelphia 2015), Twitter (@ WMF2015) (@ WMF2015ES) and Instagram (WMF2015).

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