CBCP meets to prepare for Pope’s visit in January 2003

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) met in Tagaytay City over the weekend to discuss preparations for the visit in January next year of Pope John Paul II.

The CBCP earlier announced the Pope would be arriving for his third visit to the country to attend the triennial World Meeting of Families whose fourth meeting will be held in Manila from Jan. 23 to 26, 2003.

On Jan. 25, 2003, there will be a Eucharist celebration to be attended by families from different countries and the day will be capped with a festive meeting with the Pope.

The first World Meeting of Families was held in Rome in 1994, then in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1997 while the third was again held in Rome in October 2000.

The theme for the World Meeting of Families in Manila will be "The Christian Family: Good News for the Third Millennium."

The World Meeting is expected to assume a more Asian focus with special emphasis on the missionary task of Christian families in Asia and the rest of the world.

As part of the year-long preparations for the event, the CBCP will conduct a massive information program in all the country’s 120 dioceses, using specially designed modules for fathers, mothers, youth and children.

The CBCP has also prepared a calendar of events and special days of celebration this year, with Mar. 19 set aside as the festival for fathers, the second Sunday of May as the festival of mothers and December as the festival of families.

The Philippine episcopacy is also organizing an international theological pastoral congress in January next year.

The Pope was last here in January 1995 for the celebration of World Youth Day.