“Rather than raising walls, Europe should revive the extraordinary adventure of building bridges between cultures and faiths”, said Mgr. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, at a press conference in the Vatican today, as he presented the theme of the 9^th World Meeting of Families which will take place in Dublin from 22 to 26 August 2018. “After Philadelphia, the meeting is now back in Europe”, Mgr. Paglia said, recalling that just “a few weeks ago, the Pope gave a new shock to this old continent which risks turning in on itself, resigned to its own sterility”. Indeed, Pope Francis “strongly encouraged Europeans to rediscover their humanistic vocation, to revive the missionary passion that made progress and development possible, to abandon the temptation to raise walls, and to revive the extraordinary adventure of building bridges between cultures and faiths”. According to the president of the Pontifical Dicastery, “celebrating the family which is suffering a great deal in Europe is an extraordinary opportunity for all realities – civil, social, religious, political and economic – to rediscover its centrality and its power to be the first training centre for a peaceful coexistence between different people”. Echoing Pope Francis’ words on the reception of the Charlemagne Prize, Mgr. Paglia called for: “a Europe of families, a Europe that is itself a family of peoples and cultures”. The meeting in Dublin – whose theme chosen by the Pope is “The Gospel of the family, joy for the world” – is the first large world gathering for families after the Synod of Bishops. And the Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” will be the “Magna Charta” of the entire meeting, Mgr. Paglia announced.