Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame will be the patrons of the X World Meeting of Families. This was announced by Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis with a letter to the families, released during the press conference that was held this morning (Tuesday 31 May 2022) in the Vatican Press Office.

This is the "first married couple to be beatified by the Catholic Church, on 21 October 2001 by Saint John Paul II - recalled Gigi De Palo and Annachiara Gambini, who spoke today as representatives of the pastoral care of the family of the diocese of Rome -, in the presence of three of their four children. Their commitment did not end simply in welcoming and educating their children. They were dedicated to service and the Common Good from the very beginning of their marriage. In fact, they began the family ministry in Rome, proposing meetings and accompaniment for engaged couples and spouses. Their example is a call to that normal holiness, to the "middle class of holiness", as Pope Francis would say.

A story to be rediscovered, that of the Beltrame Quattrocchi family. Luigi and Maria met in Rome and got married here, in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. In Rome they settled in the house in via Depretis, and had four children: Filippo became a Benedictine monk with the name of Don Tarcisio; Stefania, known as Fanny, entered the Benedictine Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Milan and took the name of Sister Cecilia; Cesare, who instead became a Trappist father and is known as Father Paolino; finally, Enrichetta, the last born, a consecrated laywoman, was declared Venerable by Pope Francis on 30 August 2021.

Cardinal De Donatis reminds us how "the story of the whole family appears to us today as an authentic, credible and current testimony of conjugal love". The two spouses were Franciscan tertiaries, very active in scouting with the ASCI (Italian Scouting Association), stretcher bearers with the Unitalsi , engaged in Catholic Action. Luigi worked as a state lawyer, Maria wrote books but in the meantime they found time to attend Mass every day. A family that fully embodies the theme that Pope Francis wanted for this X World Meeting of Families: "Family love, vocation and the way to holiness".