COMECE Spring Plenary starts today with 23 Member Bishops participating. The main topic of the Assembly is “Christian Churches in Maghreb and Mashriq”.
(Credit: COMECE)
COMECE hosts a public evening debate tonight with Cardinal Naguib at 19:30. More information to the event here.
The following experts and institutional representatives will address the bishops’ plenary Assembly tomorrow:
– Mrs Véronique ARNAULT, Director of the Human Rights & Democracy Department,European External Action Service
– Fr Christophe ROUCOU, Director of the Service for relations with Islam at the French Bishops’ Conference
– Mr Michael DÄUMER, Policy Analyst, European External Action Service
– Prof Nabil KHALIFE, Analyst for Geopolitics et Geostrategy, Lebanon
– Mr John GATT-RUTTER, Director of the ‘Mashriq/Maghreb’ Working Group, European External Action Service
!!! COMECE Plenary Assemblies are closed to the Public !!!
Journalists are invited at the
Final Press Conference Friday 8 April 14:00
at COMECE, 19 square de Meeûs
with the participation of Cardinal Naguib
Please register to the press conference at : johanna.touzel@comece.eu
Opening Speech of Mgr Adrianus van Luyn to the COMECE Plenary Assembly:
Dear brothers in Christ,
Anyone who thought that, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the European Union would be able to mark the end of ten very turbulent years and then get down to business, needs to think again. Instead of being able to get down to a calmer session of ‘business as usual’, the European Union is now confronted with subjects and challenges which demand from its politicians both careful evaluation and rapid action.
Some of these have become ‘faithful companions’, such as the turbulence in the international financial markets, which began in 2007 with the mortgage crisis in the United States. Other developments have taken us by surprise, like the wind of change in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Some questions have been seething for a longer time and have suddenly gained new explosive power through an unforeseen event: as a result of the earthquake in north-eastern Japan and the resulting destruction of the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, we are confronted with the burning question of how to satisfy the energy requirements of our ‘technologised’ world in such a way that safety, environmental compatibility, sustainability and security of supply are held in a balanced equilibrium. I will go into all three subjects, as they also have far-reaching consequences for our work.(…)
Download here the text of the speech here (embargo today 16:00).
German and french versions available on request.
