“Let us not forget: Families are the cradle of the future of humanity.”  

(Pope Leo XIV, Jubilee of the Families, Rome June 2025)

                     

The 22th of December 2025

Dear Friends,

As the year draws to a close, we at FAFCE wish to take this opportunity to reflect on the blessings, challenges, and milestones that 2025 has brought to our Federation. This has been a year of growth, hope, and renewed commitment to our mission of putting families at the heart of European and International policymaking. Let us share some highlights with you as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, the cornerstone of all family life.

 

Highlights of 2025

 

Spring

The year began with Poland holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU. Shortly after the publishing of its priorities, we welcomed the attention brought to mental health of children and online safety from pornography. During 2025 FAFCE has advocated through different forms (advocacy work, research, interventions in Brussels, New York and online, and organisation of events) for the protection of minors online and stressing pornography as a public health issue, harming children, teenagers, men, women, couples, families and overall, the entire society.

In the context of ongoing debates during this year, it is crucial to foster intergenerational solidarity. To achieve this FAFCE has contributed on 18th February to the promotion of the choice of life, intervening in a National Congress on Bioethics at CEU San Pablo University (Spain), FAFCEs recent new Members. It is possible to be in favour of life and in favour of choice too – the choice for women to have children and for communities to grow through new lives. Additionally, I had the chance to visit our Portuguese Members and intervene at their Conference of Catholic University of Porto, to recall that we need to participate in the common good, as this “responsibility falls on civil society”, and does not only belong to the State or the Church.

We recalled also during 2025 that: Demography can only be understood with a long term vision. During the 10th European Congress of Local Governments, held 3d March, in Mikołajki, Poland, FAFCE recalled to put “the family at the centre of long-term public policies in Europe”, and highlighted the need to act together by introducing long term measures and adopting a cross-policy approach in order to “create conditions that allow families to thrive.”

This year 2025 started by the election of the new European Commission. On the topic of demography, FAFCE has been invited on 20th March to the first meeting of the Demography Intergroup at the European Parliament, with around twenty MEPs from different political groups. 

Great achievements are the result of great collaboration. Thanks to the generous invitation of the US Catholic Bishops Conference and the Holy See Mission in New York, FAFCE had the chance to increase its international presence in advocating for family rights and children’s mental health at the United Nations in New York on 19th March. FAFCE’s intervention at the UN was a call for greater responsibility from the international community to“ deliver on long term solutions to tackle pornography as a public health issue and mitigate the risks of online threats for minors. 

Spring ended with heartfelt sorrow of the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, on Easter Monday, 21st April 2025. In this moment of silence and reflection, FAFCE members and families united with the universal Church in prayer for the eternal rest of his soul and his return to the father, giving thanks for a life devoted to the Gospel, to the poor, and to the beauty of family life.

 

Summer 

I was very surprised that at the first public activity of the Parliament Intergroup on Demography on 25th April, I was invited to speak about our view on the demographic challenges. I was very honored to share with the MEPs our understanding on the “Intergenerational solidarity and demography policies of the EU”. This invitation is a clear recognition of FAFCE’s growing role as a key reference point for Parliamentarians when it comes to family and demographic policy.
One month later, after having its first public event with FAFCE, the Demography Intergroup of the European Parliament organised a high-level meeting with Commissioner Dubravka Šuica to raise awareness about the important issue of demography.

From the 6th to the 8th of May, FAFCE held its bi-annual Spring Board Meeting at the Marienkroon Abbey, near ‘s-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands). I would especially like to highlight and thank the important work carried out by our Dutch members — OpGROEIsymposium and GezinsPlatform— who have welcomed us so generously. During the Meeting, our Board adopted a Resolution on  “Family and Family Networks”,  reaffirming the central role of the family in building resilient and supportive communities. Just a few hours later, the world discovered the news of the election of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. It was interesting to realise that our Board Meeting debated on the Catholic Social Teaching only the day before the new Roman Pontiff chose his name in remembrance of pope Leo XIII who wrote the first encyclical dedicated to labour and economy, Rerum Novarum, in 1891.

We welcomed with deep joy the election of Pope Leo XIV, a missionary to the throne of Peter. In this epochal change that we are experiencing, as Pope Francis often emphasised, families will have in him a shepherd, following the example of the Good Shepherd, who brings true peace.

Another highlight of this year 2025 was the International Seminar on “Family Networks for the Future of the Church” on Saturday 31 May in Rome, organized on the occasion of the Jubilee of Families in Rome,  under the High Patronage of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Where we had the chance to celebrate the Mass of the Jubilee of Families with the new elected Pope Leo XIV.

The takeaway of this conference was the urgent need to create an International Confederation of Catholic Family Associations. I hope that with your support, this project will be carried out.

In summer our work and commitment showed some results in three ways, in three main political headquarters, at three different international institutions. 

Firstly, we welcomed the decision of the European Parliament in Brussels to force pornographic websites to put in place “robust and effective age verification tools to effectively prevent children from accessing pornographic content online”. Together with partners gathered in the European Child SHIELD Platform FAFCE has insisted on “ensuring the implementation of the CSAM current rules” by “mandatory effective age-verification under penalty of immediate blocking” (experts from SHIELD Advocacy Statement). For that purpose our Advocacy Director Matthieu Bruynseels was invited as an expert at an event the EP on child exposure to pornography. And right after, on the 23rd of September FAFCE co-organised a conference at the European Parliament on  Protecting children from online threats, hosted by MEP Matej Tonin  (EPP, Slovenia) informing about their work on the CSAM directive and action points to go further. 

Secondly, I am also very happy to share an important advancement made in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe. This June some Members of the Parliamentary Assembly proposed with the help of FAFCE concrete solutions for a demographic spring, with a new motion for a Resolution, titled: “Towards a family-friendly Europe: policy recommendations for demographic renewal”, presented by the Parliamentary Assembly Member Ana Zaborska, who passed away just some months after. The entire FAFCE team and I wish to thank her for being a faithful servant of the common good, a devoted mother and grandmother, and a courageous witness to the dignity of human life and the family.

Thirdly, FAFCE organised for the first time an event at the United Nations in Geneva on the topic “Family as a Cornerstone: Upholding Parental Roles in ensuring the right to education”, together with three permanent missions and two NGOs I explained at international level why loneliness is one of the greatest challenges families face nowadays and that family networks are the solution for our demographic crises. 

 

Autumn 

After the summer FAFCE continued to be invited to conferences and forums, like on the 2nd of September, when our Project Manager, Maria Waszkiewicz, was invited to join a panel discussion entitled ‘The demographic crisis in Europe and its consequences’ in Poland.

From the 4th to 6th of November we hosted our Autumn Board Meeting in Brussels. Hosted by MEP Paolo Inselvini, we held a very honest and open exchange between FAFCE Members and Members of the European Parliament in Brussels. We were thrilled to host our members here in the heart of Europe and we are thankful for their work towards our impactful Resolution “Subsidiarity not Centralisation”. It provided practical policy suggestions to apply the principle of Subsidiarity and to recognise the importance of intermediary bodies within society, such as family networks.

On the 13th of November FAFCE, representing the CINGO Committee on Women Rights of the Council of Europe, hosted an online webinar on “Empowering Mothers: Advancing Recognition and Overcoming Workplace Challenges”, bringing together 4 panelists:  policymakers, politicians, civil society representatives, and women’s rights defenders to discuss how Europe can better support working mothers and family life.

 

Winter

For the end of the year, a major success was presented in Brussels: The European Parliament condemned surrogacy in their Gender Equality Strategy 2025. And FAFCE was invited to be part of the cross partisan support to ban surrogacy  at the European Parliament. 

 

Dear friends,

As you may be aware, FAFCE has grown significantly, working now even at the G7 level and awaiting confirmation of ECOSOC status at the United Nations. 

 We are at a crossroads. We can only continue to our level of activity and expand our mission for the family with your support. Please consider joining our mission by contributing during this Christmas to the mission of following the example of the holy family in Bethlehem. 

As you prepare for Christmas, please spare a moment of prayer in thanks for our staff in Brussels:

  • For Teresa Gerns Jimenez-Villarejo and her tireless and engaged advocacy at the Council of Europe and the United Nations.
  • For Maria Waszkiewicz for her outstanding and far-reaching project management, particularly her work on pornography and child protection.
  • For Matthieu Bruynseels, for his detailed and consistent advocacy work at the European Parliament, Commission, and Council.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we extend our deepest gratitude to all who support FAFCE’s mission. May this Christmas bring joy, peace, and renewed hope to you and your families. Together, let us continue to build a future where families are at the centre of Europe’s vision.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a joyful new year,

 

Vincenzo Bassi

FAFCE President