Press Release

Vatican: The Children’s Church towards World Children’s Day, meeting with Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day

Friday 30 May at 10:30 at Palazzo San Calisto

Event on the occasion of the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly

VATICAN, 26 MAY- “The Children’s Church. Towards WCD” is the title of the meeting scheduled for Friday 30 May at 10.30 in Vatican City State, in the Pius XI Hall of Palazzo San Calisto (Piaza San Calisto no. 16, Rome). The initiative is organized by the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day with a view to World Children’s Day 2026, and will be held on the occasion of the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly.

The greeting from Fr. Enzo Fortunato, chair of the Pontifical Committee for WCD, will be followed by an introduction from Gleison De Paula Souza, secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and the lectio magistralis from Cardinal José Tolentino De Mendonça, prefect of the Holy See Dicastery for Culture and Education.

There will then be interventions from Don Michele Gianola, national delegate of the Italian Episcopal Conference for the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day, Marina D’Amato, professor of sociology of childhood at the University of Rome Tre, and testimonies from the writer Dacia Maraini and Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatrician and humanitarian activist who has worked in emergency contexts such as the Gaza Strip.

From 12.00, all the children present will be able to play the new games “Giubileopoli” and Minecraft “Peter is here”.

“I would like to take up the words of Pope Leo, who invites children, a volcano of life, energy, feelings and ideas, to face every obstacle with courage, to give the best of themselves in life, in accordance with God’s plans”, declared Fr. Enzo Fortunato. “It is an important task for us to bring into play the best energies in order to help them grow and to make them aware of the wonderful and extraordinary fraternity for every one of them”.

In view of this initiative, on Saturday 31 May at 17.10 on Rai1, the first episode of the programme “TG1 Viva i Bambini” will be broadcast, from the evocative setting of the Vatican Gardens, where the youngest will be the protagonists of moments of sharing and play. The programme will be presented by four little presenters, assisted by Fr. Fortunato and Piero Damosso.

In addition, on Sunday 1 June, at 10.30, representatives of the Pontifical Committee for WCD will participate, in Saint Peter’s Square, in the Holy Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly.

ACCREDITATION PROCEDURE

Journalists and media operators who wish to participate in the meeting must apply, no later than 24 hours before the event, via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at https://press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.

WCD Press and Media Relations Office

Roberto Pacilio
M: +39 339.54.49.531 - E-mail: press@gmb24.org