The VIII World Meeting of Families was warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by the Extraordinary Synod. During the Bishops' second week of work on the family, the Pontifical Council for the Family had a table at the entrance of the Synod Hall, where it presented the event that the City of Philadelphia will host from 22 to 27 September 2015.
The task of providing information to the Synod Fathers was entrusted especially to Fr. Bill Donovan, who also presented the meeting to Pope Francis: "I told him—Fr. Bill recalled—that Philadelphia is waiting for him with open arms, and that we have very nice structures to accommodate the families and the scholars who will be attending the Meeting. I also said that the hot dogs in that town are fabulous, and the Holy Father, after having congratulated us for this wonderful initiative, said that if he can come next September he will certainly want to taste one."
Fr. Bill then announced the event to many of the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences, so that they may start organizing delegations (formed by a bishop, a priest and a couple of laypeople) who will take part in the whole event. Those who requested information were given a folder with explanatory documentation, a pen-drive containing the video presentation of Philadelphia 2015 in four languages, a pen with the official logo, and the volume (in English or Spanish) of the preparatory catechesis for the Meeting.
