PHILADELPHIA (PA)
San Francisco Chronicle
By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press
Monday, February 25, 2013
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Monday the city has been formally selected by the Vatican to host a large gathering of the Roman Catholic church called the World Meeting of Families in 2015, with Archbishop Charles Chaput saying the region’s 1.5 million Catholics are in need of “healing and renewal.”
The meeting, expected to draw hundreds of thousands from around the world, will be held from Sept. 22 through Sept. 27 in 2015. Pope Benedict XVI originally announced the selection of the city as host in June, months before his planned resignation was announced earlier this month.
The dates for the VIII World Meeting of Families were confirmed in a letter last month, Chaput said Monday. At a news conference, Chaput said he didn’t know why the pope chose Philadelphia but that he was “deeply grateful.”
“These events also become moments of grace,” he said, adding that the region’s Catholic community is “in need of healing and renewal” and that the church needs “to better protect children and young people.”
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