The Catholic Church is encouraging dioceses to send delegates to the upcoming 7th. "World Meeting of Families" in Milan, Italy from May 30 to June 3 this year."The World Meeting of Families was established by Pope John Paul II in 1994 as a triennial event," the CBCP said.
According to the Seventh World Meeting of Families website, the event has taken place in several cities:
- Rome (Italy, 1994);
- Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 1997),
- Rome (Italy, 2000),
- Manila (Philippines, 2003),
- Valencia (Spain, the first hosted by Benedict XVI, 2006), and
- Mexico City (Mexico, 2009).
In a message posted on the World Meeting of Families website, Pope Benedict XVI said:""The upcoming World Meeting of Families affords a privileged opportunity to rethink work and celebration in the perspective of a family that is united and open to life, thoroughly integrated in society and in the Church, attentive to the quality of relationship in addition to the economy of the family nucleus itself."
Natural family planning website
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, a news release posted on its website, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said its family and life ministry intends to put up a website that promotes natural family planning as a way of countering the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill.
The CBCP said the website is just one of the measures being planned by the CBCP's Episcopal Commission on Family and Life (ECFL).
"Among the initial measures discussed are the updating and distribution of the Directory of Diocesan Directors and Workers for easier coordination, continued formation in Family and Life issues, establishment of NFP centers all over the Philippines, and the construction of a new ECFL website as a means of communication," the CBCP said
Earlier, in a meeting in Bacolod City, new ECFL chairman Antipolo Bishop Gabriel Reyes directed ECFL diocesan director and workers to step up the campaign against the RH bill.
The Catholic Church is against the RH bill because of its provisions allowing artificial contraception.
The Church favors only natural means of family planning.
However, a survey of pollster Pulse Asia among 1,200 Filipino adults in 2010 found that there is a high level of awareness (80%) about the RH bill among the respondents.
Majority of the respondents also expressed support for the bill (69%).