Vatican’s family office marking 30 years

(November 25, 2011) The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family is holding a 4-day plenary assembly next week to mark 30 years of its foundation and as well as of the publication of an important document on the Christian family. The council held a press conference in the Vatican on Friday to release the programme of the double anniversary. Blessed John Paul II established the pontifical council 30 years ago May 13, 1981 and later that year released his post-synodal apostolic exhortation “Familiaris Consortio” on the role of the Christian family in the modern world, based on the recommendations of the synod of bishops on the family held in the Vatican in 1980. Speaking at Friday’s press conference, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family said that the double anniversaries are the fruits of the late pontiff’s ‘solicitude for the family. Hence the plenary assembly will begin with a thanksgiving Mass at the tomb of the late Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica on Nov. 29. The meeting will conclude on Dec. 1 and will include an audience with Pope Benedict. The last day’s discussions will focus on the 7^th World Meeting of Families that will be hosted by the northern Italian archdiocese of Milan scheduled from May 30 to June 3 next year.