On Friday 6 January, a joint delegation from the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) met with the Prime Minister of Malta, Dr Joseph Muscat, and representatives of the government of Malta at the start of their six month Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The meeting was convened to discuss common concerns, … Continue reading »

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the President of COMECE and of the German Bishops’ Conference, expresses his compassion for the victims and calls for unity after yesterday’s act of violence against the Christmas market in Berlin (19 December 2016): “The news from Berlin have deeply shocked me. The violence on the Christmas market is the opposite of what visitors were seeking. My compassion goes to the relatives … Continue reading »

COMECE participated to the second edition of the “Fundamental Rights Colloquium”, organised on a yearly basis by the European Commission. The topic was “Media Pluralism and Democracy”. The COMECE Secretariat had contributed to the relevant consultation with a detailed submission. COMECE supports the view that media cannot be analysed under the reductive lenses of commercial and market perspectives, being they closely and vitally linked with … Continue reading »

Five years after its launch, the Commission proposes to make the Transparency Register mandatory for all actors interfacing with EU institutions on policies and legislation. According to the text, whereas their EU representations should register, Churches as such are exempted from this obligation.

Chaired by Mgr Hoogenboom, COMECE Legal Affairs Commission’s second meeting of the year had a fruitful exchange with the EU Commission on the impact of new General Data Protection Regulation on Churches. The meeting especially gathered legal experts from 10 European Bishops‘Conferences.

The President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), Cardinal Reinhard Marx, issued the following statement following the attacks in Brussels: ‘The attacks at Brussels Airport and on the Metro in the city have upset me deeply and filled me with sadness. My thoughts and prayers go out at this moment to the dead, the injured and their dear ones. … Continue reading »

“The attacks perpetrated on the people of Paris yesterday evening fill us all with revulsion. They are beyond contempt. My thoughts and prayers go to the victims of these senseless acts of violence and their families. France cannot give in to campaigns of terror or violent attack, nor can Europe. Barbarism such as we have witnessed in Paris calls for a response from the civilised … Continue reading »