Next Sunday starts the year in which the Pope will preside over the 5th WMF (30-12-2005)

VALENCIA This coming Sunday, 1st of January, starts the year in which the city of Valencia will host the 5th World Meeting of the Families (WMF) with the Pope. This WMF will be held in the Valencian capital from the 1st to 9th July 2006. The V WMF was convoked and announced directly by John Paul II in 2003, and ratified by his sucessor, Benedict XVI, last May.

The Pope will preside over the main acts of the WMF in Valencia on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July, according to what the Archbishop of Valencia, Monsignor Agustín García-Gasco confirmed at the end of the solemn mass for the patron saint Virgin Mary, at the Valencian Cathedral on 8th December. For his part, on December 3rd, Benedict XVI also encouraged "all the episcopal conferences, dioceses and Catholic movements to participate in such an important ecclesial event".

In January a visit from Joaquín NavarroValls, spokesman for the Holy See is planned, so that he can coordinate all the communication preparations, and in February Alberto Gasbarri, recently appointed as being responsible for the Pope's journeys, will travel to Valencia.

The calendar for the WMF and the Pope's visit

The WMF will start by holding the International Fair for the Families from 1st to 7th July at the Feria Valencia grounds, where the International Congress on families will also take place from 4th to 7th of July.

On the evening of Friday 7th July, a Rosary of torches with the participating families will take place on the Valencian beach of Malvarrosa. The next day, Saturday 8th July, different parishes in Valencia will hold Eucharist celebrations for linguistic groups in the morning, and in the evening, a Festive and testimonial meeting will take place in the areas surrounding the Plaza de Europa and the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. The Pope is expected to preside over this Family act and that he spend that night at the Papal apartment which is being built in the Residence of the Archbishop, in Valencia.

Finally, the WMF will conclude on Sunday 9th July with the Concluding Mass presided also by the Pope in the area surrounding the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia, which over one and a half million people are expected to attend.

The selection of volunteers begins

On the other hand, in the middle of January the Foundation in charge of the organization of the 5th World Meeting of the Families (WMF) is going to start doing personal interviews to admit volunteers and designate their tasks.

Anybody over the age of 18 can take part as a volunteer in the 5th WMF, and those over 16, with parents' consent who apply and are selected for the differents positions to cover. To register as a volunteer, the period to do so being until next April, can be made using an application that can be obtained on the WMF website: www.wmf2006.org.

The volunteers' functions will include paying attention to the participants, and meeting them at stations, port and airport, giving information to the pilgrims in different parts of the city, collaborating in the Press centre, translating and interpreting, and in the logistics of the events, as well as accompanying authorities and coordination of groups.

Those interested may obtain more information in the Volunteers Office of the 5th WMF, located at Paseo de la Petxina, 42, in Valencia, which is open in the evenings from 4pm to 8 pm and which has the following telephone number 963 382 176.

AVAN