On September 22-27, 2015, Philadelphia will welcome the World Meeting of Families 2015, which is expected to draw a global audience. In June 2012, the 7th World Meeting, held in Milan, Italy, drew hundreds of thousands to the city with more than one million attending the Holy Father’s Mass.

Since its inception by Blessed John Paul II in 1994, the World Meeting of Families has sought to strengthen the sacred bonds of family across the globe. Each World Meeting of Families has a theme, which aims to emphasize the good news of the family and highlight its intrinsic value to the good of society. The theme for the 2015 World Meeting of Families is “Love is our mission: the family fully alive.”

The following is the text of Pope Francis’ first catechesis on the family, delivered last December, leading up to this year’s World Meeting of Families.

Final 2014 General Audience Address: On Jesus’ Choice to Be Part of a Family

“As Mary and Joseph did, every Christian family can first of all receive Jesus, listen to him, talk with him, guard and protect him, grow with him, and thus improve the world.”

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