Pope to visit Philadelphia in 2015

Philadelphia Catholics awoke Sunday to some heartening news from the Vatican: Pope Benedict XVI will visit the city in 2015, having chosen it as the site for the World Meeting of Families.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is in Milan, Italy, where Benedict made the announcement and presented Chaput with the icon of the Holy Family, the symbol of the gathering.

An exact date for the event in Philadelphia has not been released. It will be the first papal visit to the city since 1979, when Pope John Paul II drew an audience of 1 million to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

In a statement released by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Chaput called the pope's World Meeting announcement "a gift to the local church in Philadelphia and to the whole nation."

"I am so grateful to the Holy Father that he has chosen Philadelphia and excited that we will host the 2015 World Meeting of Families," Chaput said. "It's fitting that this gathering, which celebrates the cornerstone of society, will take place in America's cradle of freedom."

Saying the concept of family "is founded on a deep and loving union between one man and one woman for mutual support and the nurturing of children," Chaput said the World Meeting "will be a wonderful opportunity to highlight the family as the basic evangelizing unit of the Church. Every effort to promote marriage and the family serves not only the Church, but also the common good."

John Paul II established the World Meeting of Families in 1992 "to strengthen and defend the sacred bonds of marriage and family across the globe," according to the archdiocese statement.

It takes place every three years and is sponsored by the Holy See's Pontifical Council for the Family.