Sixth World Meeting of Families: it is under way

ZENIT have carried some reports of the beginning of the theological congress of the 6th World Meeting of Families, taking place in Mexico City 13th-18th January 2009.

Family Meeting on Air indicates ways of following the Meeting via the internet and radio or television. Blog-by-the-sea gives some more links, to the official website of the World Meeting. Unfortunately, I have not been able to track down where (or if) there is a site somewhere that is quickly posting texts of talks etc from the World Meeting.

A Million Expected for Family Meeting reports Cardinal Ennio Antonelli's press conference in Rome to present the World Meeting to the news media. Cardinal Antonelli is the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Vatican department that supports the World Meeting of Families. The million referred to is the number of people that it is hoped will take part in the concluding celebration of Mass and families on Sunday. Enthusiasm and Numbers Grow for Family Meeting gives a list of some of the speakers due to take part in the World Meeting, and suggests that participation will be greater than the last World Meeting of Families in Valencia in 2007.

Preacher Gives Families Strategy to Win Back World is a report of the talk given by Father Raniero Cantalamessa at the World Meeting. Fr Cantalamessa's address appears to have been very wide ranging, but two points seem to stand out from ZENIT's report. The first is the emphasis on the spousal nature of marriage, rooted, as one might expect from Fr Cantalamessa, in a Biblical vision. A recovery of a spousal vision of marriage, not I think in contradiction to marriage seen as an "institution" but as an expression of what the idea of marriage as an institution really means, is what Fr Cantalamessa suggests. The second interesting point is a suggestion for how Catholics should respond to the current attacks on marriage in many developed nations. Fr Cantalamessa strongly criticises the "gender revolution" in terms that are, if anything, stronger than those used by Pope Benedict XVI in his pre-Christmas address to the Roman Curia. But his underlying suggestion is that, rather than focussing on changing laws that undermine marriage, Catholics should instead prioritise the renewal of their own married life so that the witness of this life can then be offered to wider society and be accepted by that society. This change in customs prepares the way for changes in laws.

Though Pope Benedict XVI is not in Mexico for the World Meeting, he is represented there by the Secretary of State of Vatican City and will be following the events of the meeting closely. He is due to make two contributions via satellite/video links, one being at the end of the concluding Mass on Sunday. If the 5th World Meeting in Valencia is anything to go by, a highlight will be the celebration and testimonies of family life that is scheduled to take place on Saturday evening.