The  COMECE Legal Affairs Commission  met on Thursday 3 December 2020 to exchange on current EU and national initiatives in the area of fundamental rights. The event took place by video conference due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis under the chairmanship of H. E. Mgr. Theodorus C. M. Hoogenboom, Auxiliary Bishop of Utrecht. The meeting prioritesed the situation of children in the Europea Union. In … Continue reading »

H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ and H.E. Mgr. Youssef Soueif, respectively President of COMECE and delegate of the Maronites in Cyprus to COMECE, participated in the 15th annual high-level EU-religious leaders’ meeting on the theme “European Way of Life” on Friday 27 November 2020, with the Vice Presidents of the European Commission and Parliament, Margaritis Schinas and Roberta Metsola, in charge of Article 17 … Continue reading »

An ecumenical delegation of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) had an online meeting on Tuesday 27 October 2020 with Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office, to exchange on the priorities of the German Presidency of the Council of the … Continue reading »

An ecumenical delegation of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) have met in Brussels on Tuesday, 7 July 2020, with Mr. Michael Clauss, Ambassador at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU, to exchange on the priorities of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The delegation called the … Continue reading »

“The reopening of churches must be implemented by civil authorities in dialogue with ecclesial institutions”, states Fr. Barrios Prieto, General Secretary of COMECE, thereby expressing a widespread feeling within the Church in many EU Member States. “Freedom of religion, including freedom of worship, is a fundamental right and a real necessity for many people – states Fr. Barrios Prieto. “The reopening of churches, in compliance … Continue reading »

The COMECE Legal Affairs Commission gathered experts from EU Bishops’ Conferences on Thursday 5 March 2020 in order to address current EU legal matter of particular relevance for the Church. Legal advisors updated each other and reflected on the continued impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the Catholic Church in the Member states. This topic will be the focus of the upcoming … Continue reading »

On Friday 31 January 2020, a COMECE delegation met with several judges of the Court of Justice of the EU to discuss the increasing impact of the Court’s jurisprudence in the Member States’ legal systems. Mgr. Hoogenboom: “this fruitful dialogue enriched the COMECE Legal Affairs Commission and brought to the attention of the judges legal specificities and some key points of the Catholic Church in … Continue reading »

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, COMECE and CCEE, on behalf of the bishops of the EU and Europe, express their commitment to fight “all acts that trample on human dignity”, including racism, xenophobia and antisemitism. In the spirit of the message addressed by Pope Francis to the “Simon Wiesenthal Center” on Monday 20 January 2020, … Continue reading »