Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Top participation at the European Ecumenical Assembly from Sibiu

Pope Benedict XVI will transmit a message that will be delivered by Cardinal Kasper.

Nine O'Clock
published in issue 3997 page 8 at 2007-08-15

The 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly, to take place at Sibiu, during September 4-9, will rally, alongside the leaders of the Christian Churches, representatives of the Romanian institutions and Romanian dignitaries – a total of 2,500 officials that will promote the inter-religious dialogue. The minister of culture and religious denominations, Adrian Iorgulescu, informed on Tuesday, in a press conference, that the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rene van der Linden, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, the commissioner for culture, Jan Figel, and the commissioner for multilingualism, Leonard Orban, have announced their participation at the event.

The meeting, organized for the first time in a chiefly Orthodox country, will discuss themes of the spiritual unity of the Churches and of the contemporary world, such as Europe, migration, religion, justice and peace.

Some of the personalities of the Christian Churches that have confirmed their participation are the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the Unity of the Christians, Cardinal Walter Kasper, and the Melkit Greek-Catholic Patriarch of Antiochia, Jerusalem and Alexandria, Gregorios III.

Pope Benedict XVI will transmit a message that will be presented by Cardinal Kasper. At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the Christian Churches will convey a joint message over the steps that must be taken to increase the unity of the Churches and for the settlement of the problems of the modern society. The assembly will rally, as observers, representatives of the Muslim and Jewish communities from around the world. The event is organized by the Conference of the European Churches and the Council of the European Episcopal Conferences. The first meeting took place in 1989, at Basel, Switzerland, and the second in 1997 at Graz, Austria. The theme of the meeting is “The light of Christ is enlightening for everybody. Hope for renewal and unity in Europe.”

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