The protection of children and questions of an ecumenical nature were on the agenda of the Assembly of the bishops of North Europe, held in Copenhagen from 9 to 13 March. The bishops of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland assembled under the presidency of the bishop of Oslo, Gerhard Schwenzer. The other issues discussed by the bishops were ecumenism in the Catholic dioceses of North Europe and the collaboration between the Catholic dioceses, Catholic-Lutheran bilateral dialogue and the development of relations between the State and the local Lutheran churches which are all State churches, with the exception of Sweden. The question of the building of new churches was also discussed. A further theme of the consultations was the process of the reception in the communities of the pastoral letter “Preserving life” (cf. SirEurope 6/2002) that the NBK (Conference of the Bishops of North Europe) had distributed with particular regard to the final phases of life. The next assembly will be held in Tromsø from 13 to 18 September.
