VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The International Eucharistic Congress is an opportunity for Catholics to celebrate together the mystery of the sacrament as well as to evangelize, Pope Benedict XVI said.

The Pope told members of the pontifical committee that organizes the congresses that the purpose is to “recall the centrality of the Eucharistic mystery” in the development of a life of faith.

The next congress is to set for June 10-17, 2012 in Dublin with the theme, “The Eucharist: Communion with God and Each Other.”

The Pope spoke to members of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses Nov. 11 during their plenary meeting.

The congresses over the years have become occasions for thousands of Catholics, including cardinals, clergy, religious and lay people, to meet to discuss and celebrate the Eucharist together.

Pope Benedict said the weeklong meetings are increasingly international, and they “highlight the universal dimension of the celebration.”

He also said the events should “give a particular contribution to the new evangelization,” referring to the Church’s renewed attention to areas of the world, such as Europe, where secularism is replacing faith.

Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the committee that organizes the events, said that the Dublin gathering will be the 50th such congress since they began in France in 1881.

The archbishop said the meetings, “in pilgrimage from one continent to another, have become the expression of the ‘itinerant magisterium’ of the Church.”

The congresses “gather extraordinary crowds of faithful around the Eucharist, reinvigorating their faith in the presence of the Lord and nourishing them with the ‘Bread of Life,’” Archbishop Marini said.

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress coincides with the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the archbishop noted.