The World Meeting of Families will be held in Dublin in August 2018 with the theme The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World.
Pope Francis announced the date - Aug 22-26 2018 - and theme for the ninth World Meeting of Families (WMF) at the Vatican.
In 1994 Pope Saint John Paul II asked the Pontifical Council for the Family to establish the WMF as an international event of prayer, catechesis, and celebration that draws participants from around the globe.
Held at three year intervals, it seeks to strengthen the bonds between families and to witness to the crucial importance of marriage and the family to all of society.
It fosters the process of accompaniment of families in their mission and also fosters gestures of solidarity for families in difficulties.
The WMF was first celebrated in Rome in 1994. Since then, meetings have been hosted in cities including Rio de Janeiro, Manila, Valencia and Mexico City.
The principal events of 2018 will be held in Dublin but events will also take place in other centres around Ireland.
Pope Francis has chosen the theme The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World.
The theme aims to take up the inspiration of Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia on The Joy of Love, which was the fruit of a Synodal Process taking place in the Church since shortly after his election.
The actual meeting in 2018 will begin with a major conference which will last for three days at which international speakers will address the challenges of the family.
Married couples will witness to the contribution of the family to the Church and to society.
Each day will open with a major talk followed by break-out groups on a wide range of theological, spiritual, social and scientific questions on the place of the family in today's word, and will conclude with Mass.
On the evening of Saturday August 25 a larger function of testimonies will be held to celebrate the place of the family in the Church. A final Mass will conclude the meeting on the early afternoon of Sunday August 26.
It is too early to know if Pope Francis will attend. His programme is normally announced just a few months prior to any event. The Pope has expressed his desire to attend and such a visit of the Pope would bring great joy to Irish Catholics and others.
But the final decision will depend on many other factors. Given the age of Pope Francis, a possible visit in 2018 would inevitably have a more restricted programme than that of the papal visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979.
Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin welcomed the choice of theme.
"Personally, and on behalf of the Irish Bishops' Conference, I wish to thank Pope Francis for his inspiring choice of theme for the 9th World Meeting of Families in Dublin," he said.
"The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World, clearly draws on both Apostolic Exhortations of the Holy Father, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) of November 2013, and Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love, On Love in the Family), published last month in April.
"After World Youth Day in Krakow this July, the World Meeting of Families in Dublin in 2018 will be the next great global event in the calendar of the Universal Church. The Catholic Church in Ireland is blessed to have been chosen to host, for the first time, this special faith-filled event for families."
Archbishop Martin added that it was his hope that families in every parish in Ireland would participate in the preparation for the world meeting and the various events being planned for late summer 2018.
The world meeting, he said, provided the perfect context for people to rediscover the vocation and mission of the family in the life of the Church and in Irish society.
"Supporting families is one of the most important aspects of the mission of the Church. As a priest and bishop I have come to know and admire the wonderful work of many individuals and groups who are involved in family support and ministry here in Ireland. The World Meeting provides an opportunity to affirm their work and to inspire new initiatives to sustain the family as a source of joy, hope and cohesion in the Church and in society," he said.
"Of course, as Pope Francis reminds us often, no family is perfect and every family has its struggles and wounds. The World Meeting of Families in Dublin will be a success if it helps us to celebrate and support family life whilst encouraging us to reach out in love to families who are overwhelmed by the challenges and pressures of everyday living.
"Over the next two years, in our preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018, the Catholic Church across the country has an opportunity to map out and advocate a new Charter and Mission for the family in the context of twenty-first century Ireland."
