Video Message of the Holy Father on His Upcoming Apostolic Journey to Ireland

Dear friends,

As I prepare to visit Ireland for the World Meeting of Families in a few days’ time, I send an affectionate word of greeting to all the Irish people: “I'm excited to think I'll come back to Ireland!”.

As you know, the World Meeting is a celebration of the beauty of God’s plan for the family; it is also an opportunity for families from all over the world to meet and support each other in living their special vocation. Families today face many challenges in their efforts to embody a faithful love, to raise children with healthy values and to be in the community at large a leaven of goodness, love and mutual care. You know all this.

I hope this opportunity will be a source of renewed encouragement for families all over the world, especially those families who will be present in Dublin. May we remember the essential place of the family in the life of society and in building a better future for young people. Young people are the future! It is very important to prepare young people for the future, to prepare them today, in the present, but with the roots of the past: the young and the grandparents. It is very important.

Although the specific reason for my visit to Ireland is the World Meeting of Families, I would like it to embrace all members of the Irish family. In particular, I pray that it will serve to increase unity and reconciliation among all Christ’s faithful, as a sign of that lasting peace which is God’s dream for the whole human family. I know that many people are actively engaged in preparation for my visit. I thank everyone warmly. I ask every one of you to pray that this meeting be a moment of joy and serenity, a caress of Jesus’ tender love for all families and, in truth, for every child of God. I assure you of my closeness and my prayer, and I invite you to pray for me, as I am in need of it. From my heart, I give you my blessing.

God bless you all. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.