COMECE welcomes in principle the conclusions of the European Council on 17 December 2015 and the concrete steps they entail for the implementation of measures concerning the reception, support and relocation of refugees in the European Union. Nevertheless it is to be regretted that the Member States were not encouraged to take further steps for the integration of the asylum seekers. Ahead of the European … Continue reading »

Today the European Commission convened a Dialogue Seminar focused on looking beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis provoked by the recent influx of migrants and refugees on European soil. COMECE, CEC, and CCME gathered experts and Church leaders from across Europe to discuss models of integration, best practices, and the fundamental values that guide integration within the European Union. Welcoming migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees became … Continue reading »

People migrate for a variety of reasons. Leaving the land of one’s birth is never easy. Today an increasing number of people are driven out of their homeland by poverty or by despair concerning the economic or social prospects of themselves or their families. The European Union has witnessed lately an unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants, fleeing military conflicts or poverty in their native … Continue reading »

Joint Statement of Bishop Christopher Hill, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, President of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community (ComECE) : The European family of nations finds itself confronting a humanitarian crisis on a scale without precedent in its post-war history. Civil war in Syria, widespread political instability in other areas of the Middle East … Continue reading »

Statement of the Standing Committee of COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, on the current refugee crisis and the debate on a common European migration and asylum policy. The flux of refugees to Europe places the countries on our continent before enormous challenges. Yet these challenges can be overcome, if we Europeans consider them as a shared responsibility and cooperate … Continue reading »

COMECE Secretary General Fr Patrick H. Daly reacts to the publication today of the European Commission’s Communication ‘Agenda on Migration’: ‘COMECE, which has European migration and asylum policies as a central concern, welcomes the concrete proposals issued today by the EU Commission. They represent a significant step forward in tackling the repeated tragedies in the Mediterranean. The proposals formulated by the EU Commission, if adopted … Continue reading »

Press statement of the President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Reinhard Cardinal Marx, on the tragedy in the Mediterranean. “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!” This was the call of Pope Francis to the European States, in his address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 25 November 2014, in which he encouraged “mutual … Continue reading »