Pope Francis will be making a trip to the U.S. next year. The centerpiece event of the trip will be the World Meeting of Families, a conference centered on family issues, in Philadelphia.
“I wish to confirm, if God wills it, that in September of 2015 I will go to Philadelphia for the Eighth World Meeting of Families,” the pope said on Monday, reports the Catholic News Agency.
The Philadelphia conference is scheduled for Sept. 22 to Sept. 27. The event happens every three years and was started by St. John Paul II in 1994. This will be the first time it is hosted in the U.S.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia is expecting around 1 million people to arrive in the city to see the popular pope.
Pope Francis confirmed his trip during a Vatican City conference on family values. During his speech, he touched on the current status of marriage.
“We now live in a culture of the temporary, in which more and more people are simply giving up on marriage as a public commitment,” the pope said, reports USA Today. “This revolution in manners and morals has often flown the flag of freedom, but in fact it has brought spiritual and material devastation to countless human beings, especially the poorest and most vulnerable.”
While he did not say so specifically, the pope is also expected to visit New York City and Washington D.C. In August, he told reporters that he was interested in going to Philadelphia and that President Obama did invite him to the White House. He also said that he was invited to speak at the UN.
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