VII World Meeting of Families 2012 in Milan

A family before Milan Cathedral; above, the state name 'CITTÀ DEL VATICANO'; below, the inscription 'VII. Incontro Mondiale delle Famiglie' (World Meeting of Families), the name of designer Gabriella Titotto, the initials of engraver Luciana de Simoni, the year 2012, and the mint mark 'R'.

In June 2012, Milan turned for several days into an international meeting place for families from around the world. The Seventh World Meeting of Families — in Italian, "VII Incontro Mondiale delle Famiglie" — took place from 30 May to 3 June 2012 in the Lombard metropolis and drew hundreds of thousands of participants. The World Meetings of Families are a papal initiative launched in 1994 by John Paul II and have since been held regularly in changing host cities. They bring together families, pastors, and church representatives from dozens of countries to discuss the role of the family in society and faith. The Milan meeting concluded with a great celebration with Pope Benedict XVI, who traveled to the Italian city specifically for the closing ceremony.

The Vatican, as a sovereign city-state and center of the Roman Catholic Church, traditionally accompanies such major events with its own coin issues. Milan itself, as the historic center of Lombardy and a major cultural metropolis of Italy, is a fitting host city: the Gothic cathedral, the Duomo di Milano, whose construction began in the 14th century and was only completed in the 19th, stands as the city's architectural landmark and also shaped the visual backdrop of the meeting. To mark the World Meeting of Families, the Vatican issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2012, preserving the event in collective memory.