November 25, 2011. (Romereports.com) The city of Milan and the Vatican are getting ready for the coming World Meeting of Families which will take place from May 30 to June 3, 2012 in Milan. The focus will be on family, work and celebration.

Msgr. Carlos Simon
Under Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Family
“We will have a pastoral theological congress that will shed some light on that subject. Then, we'll have a very important and symbolic meeting with five families from all over the world. With the pope present, they will talk about their experience on reconciliation within the family and work life. On June 3rd, the final day, we will celebrate Mass with the pope.”


Preparations have been underway for almost three years. Back in June, the catechesis for the gathering was published. It's now available in 10 languages including Chinese, Romanian and Hungarian. Many of them can be found on the World Meeting of Families website.

Msgr. Carlos Simon
Under Secretary, Pontifical Council for the Family
“In a papal letter sent to the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family on August 2010, the pope wanted to have pastoral training at least a year before the meeting. We think a useful tool could be the publication of catechesis, mainly ten, that focus on the relationship of the family, work and also a theological reflection on celebrations.”

Msgr. Simon says that since Milan is a very industrial city, one of the meetings will be held at an office.  He also says there will be time  for fun, which will include a celebration at Milan's historic La Scala Theatre.

The last World Meeting of Families was held in Mexico back in January 2009. It was attended by approximately 10,000 people. The previous meeting, led by Benedict XVI, was held in Valencia, Spain where roughly a million people attended.


BR/KLH
FF
JM
-PR