World Meeting of Families 2018 - Access videos and texts

WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES 2018 DRAWS TO A CLOSE

"As one of the fruits of this celebration of family life, may you go back to your homes and become a source of encouragement to others, to share with them Jesus’ “words of eternal life”. For your families are both a privileged place for, and an important means of, spreading those words as “Good News” for everyone (...)"

Pope Francis, WMOF2018 Final Mass in Phoenix Park

World Meeting of Families 2018 - The Events National Opening Ceremony celebrated simultaneously across all 26 dioceses. Welcoming Team for over 11,000 international visiting pilgrims and families in the Airport over eight days. Host a Family volunteers welcoming over 1,100 people into their homes. Pastoral Congress Programme in the RDS for three days. Two-day Peace Conference. Symposium in the RDS – Voices of Impact: Women Leaders Shaping Global Change The arrival of Pope Francis at Dublin Airport on Saturday 25th August Áras an Uachtaráin Welcome Ceremony on Saturday 25th August Meeting in Dublin Castle with State Authorities. Meeting in the Pro-Cathedral with couples who are preparing for or who have recently celebrated the Sacrament of Marriage. Visit to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People. People greet Pope Francis as he travels in Popemobile through the streets of Dublin. Festival of Families in Croke Park. Angelus in Knock Shrine. Papal Mass in Phoenix Park Meeting with Irish Bishops Departure from Dublin Airport And many other smaller gatherings and meetings. World Meeting of Families 2018 in Numbers Over 7,000 volunteers worked across the events. Over 11,000 pilgrims from 114countries travelled to Dublin staying in a variety of hotels and B&Bs. 1,177 of the visiting pilgrims were hosted free in Irish homes for a week. In the RDS we had over 200speakers from all five main continents of the world at the International Pastoral Congress, 91 lay women and 65 lay men; the largest group were married couples. There was a Teen Space and Children’s Space attended by over 1,500 children each day. WMOF2018 had the first dedicated Safeguarding Panel Session, the first-ever Women in Leadership Symposium, the first ever Tech Panel Session and the first 2 day Peace Conferenceincluded in the programme. The exhibition space had over 250 exhibitors to include the first-ever Tech Zone. Over 1,200 international press and media registered to attend, and an overall attendance in excess of 499,000 people attended the various events. RTE had an average of 535,000 viewers for the Papal Mass coverage from start to finish, and more than 1.8 million (excluding Northern Ireland) tuned in over the weekend. This TV footage was also shared internationally to over 75 broadcasters worldwide with a reach of millions more viewers, sharing the beautiful images of the Pope’s visit to Ireland. The WMOF2018 website had 4,376,297 pages viewed. 1,149,200 words were translated by our volunteers (into 5 languages). 2,709,300 prayer cards, icon cards and info sheets were distributed to parishes in Ireland over the 18 months before August 2018. The WMOF2018 Icon of the Holy Family travelled 45,000 miles in Ireland and 60,000petitions were sent back to the WMOF2018 office. Our Facebook page posts in the last two months reached 3,820,409 people, and our twitter account had 4,282,726 impressions in 6 months. Our August newsletter was sent to 34,987. From 21st to 25th August 4,713people used the event app

Photo Credit: Maxwell Photography for WMOF2018   Read all Pope Francis' Texts and Homilies Here! You can now read all the texts and homilies from Pope Francis' Apostolic visit to Ireland on the Occasion of the IX World Meeting of Families. Check our website for all texts in English, Spanish, French and Italian. Videos of Pope Francis’ Engagements on his Visit to Ireland  Many of the meetings and events that His Holiness participated in were recorded. These were shared on live television and can now also be viewed through our website. Watch them here

Photo Credit: Pat McKeon  Access Pastoral Congress Texts and Videos Now Over 37,000 people of all ages attended the Pastoral Congress of WMOF2018, including families, teens, children, religious, people active in their faith lives, as well as those interested in marriage and family. Three days, from Wednesday 22 - Friday 24 August were packed with talks, workshops, discussions, presentations, liturgies and entertainments. Some of the panels and talks were live-streamed and many are now available to view on our website. Watch the discussions you are interested in, those you might have missed on the day, or those you’d like to re-visit, at your leisure, from your own home. Videos available here.

The WMF2018 Blogs - painting a picture, sharing the stories & capturing the atmosphere Did you get a chance to read the WMOF2018 Event Blogs yet? We had a team of 10 volunteer bloggers and a volunteer photographer at our events, capturing some of the best moments, telling the smaller or personal stories, giving a flavour of what was happening at the venues. They truly brought the events to life for our readers, including those who couldn't come and followed us online. Immerse yourself in some reading and bring some memories to life! The blogs provide a prism through which to remember the ninth World Meeting of Families in Ireland in 2018. They describe the anticipation and excitement of the lead-up, preparations and opening ceremonies, the different events and activities of the Pastoral Congress (including talks and workshops, exhibitions, prayer spaces and more), the arrival of Pope Francis to Ireland and the warm welcome he received during his various engagements, the build-up to and performances at the Festival of Families and a selection of individual experiences of and reflections on the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park. Our blogs are a wonderful part of the legacy of WMOF2018 and will breathe fresh life into the event for years to come. Read them here.

WMOF2018 LITURGICAL MEMORABILIA AND MERCHANDISING Liturgical Items and Memorabilia from the Papal Mass in the Phoenix Park are now available for parishes to purchase, as well as a number of WMOF2018 merchandising items and publications. Please note that there is limited availability of stock. Last orders by the 22nd of October. Visit our website for more information.

A Big Cheer for our Volunteers Over 7,000 people volunteered for World Meeting of Families 2018 across the events. They assisted with Hospitality and Information services, Logistics and Transportation, Marketing, Translation and Communications, Medical services and Pastoral and Liturgical support, hosting visiting pilgrims, among many, many more roles. Our green and blue army of volunteers were a happy and helpful presence at all the WMOF2018 events. They assisted with queries, helped people with directions, provided support to those who might need it and offered a plentiful supply of good humour, enthusiasm and fun. We could not have undertaken an event of such scale and magnitude without the commitment and good will of those who gave their time and skills to make World Meeting of Families 2018 such a wonderful, joyous occasion. A very, very big thank you to our volunteers, wonderful ambassadors for our event and for our country – we couldn’t have done it without you! Read our blog in appreciation of the WMOF2018 volunteers here.

Some of the Staff Team - Photo Credit: WMOF2018  Thank you to the WMOF2018 Team! What does it take to organise the single largest event in Ireland in 2018? What, that is, aside from the support from the Vatican, the thousands of volunteers across the country, the local teams in each diocese, religious orders, suppliers and commercial partners, State authorities, the enthusiasm of dioceses around the world and the input of speakers from a range of academic and practical disciplines? Today we thank the WMOF2018 Staff team, who managed with the support of everyone a record-breaking World Meeting of Families with the highest number of people registered for the Pastoral Congress, the highest number of international pilgrims present and the highest number of children and young people attending! Meet the team here