Description of the Official Logo from the Vatican website
The logo designed for the X World Meeting of Families recalls the oval shape of Bernini’s colonnade in St. Peter’s Square, the place which defines the Catholic Church par excellence, and it refers back to its original meaning that is the welcoming and inclusive embrace of the Mother Church of Rome and of her Bishop, extending it to every man and woman throughout time.
The human images under the dome, barely visible, and the cross hanging above them, represent husband, wife, children, grandparents and grandchildren. They want to recall the image of the Church as a “family of families” proposed by Amoris Laetitia (n. 87) in which “The experience of love in families is a perennial source of strength for the life of the Church” (n. 88). The cross of Christ that looms up towards the sky and the walls of protection seem almost upheld by the families, who are authentic living stones of the ecclesiastical construction. On the left, along the thin line representing the colonnade, we notice the presence of a family that is in the same position as the statues of the saints placed on the columns of the square. These remind us that the vocation to holiness is a possible goal for everyone. They are meant to emphasize how it is possible to live holiness in the essentiality of ordinary life.
The family on the left, which appears behind the line of the colonnade, also indicates all the non-Catholic families, distant from the faith and outside the Church, who are watching the Church event that is taking place from the outside. The ecclesial community has always looked to these with attention. One can notice how dynamic the figures that are moving toward the right are. They are moving outwards. They are outgoing families, witnesses of a non-self-referential Church. They go in search of other families in an attempt to bring them closer and share with them the experience of God’s mercy.
The predominant yellow and red are a clear reference to the blazoning colors of the city of Rome, in a graphic design intended to express an intense bond with the community.