Vatican City (CNS) — Pope Francis formally approved the delegates to October’s synod on the family elected by 28 bishops’ conferences, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; other conferences have yet to elect their delegates or have done so only recently. The pope approved the U.S. bishops’ election of: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, conference president; Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, host of the World Meeting of Families in September; Cardinal Daniel Di-Nardo of Galveston-Houston; and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles. The U.S. bishops’ alternates also were approved. They are Archbishop Blase Cupich of Chicago and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. The Vatican announced Jan. 31 the names of the delegates approved by the pope. The world Synod of Bishops will be held Oct. 4-25 at the Vatican and will focus with the theme, “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World.” It follows the extraordinary synod on the family in October 2014, which Pope Francis said was designed to present an overview of the situation of families and the primary concerns for the church's pastoral care of families.