The Euromed summit that brought together 35 heads of state and of government in Barcelona in recent days also served to “enhance the role of religions in the construction of Mediterranean Europe”, said Fr. Antoni Matabosch, president of the Joan Maragall Foundation (www.fundaciojoanmaragall.org) for faith and culture of the archdiocese of Barcelona, in a briefing to SIR: “One of the measures of the summit he said was aimed at increasing the involvement of civil society, and hence of religions, in Mediterranean Europe”. Matabosch, an expert in ecumenism, explained that “it cannot be said that cultural and religious questions played any major role in this summit, nor in that of 1995”. But “in spite of everything, it is a strong challenge also for the Catholic Church to help turn the Mediterranean into a place of peace and prosperity”. Matabosch emphasised the summit’s reaffirmation “that terrorism has no religious foundation” and expressed the hope that “the Catholic communities of the 35 countries represented at it would work for the reconciliation of the various religions”. Another pressing field of work is that of collaboration in the reception of immigrants, said Matabosch: “The social work of the Catholic Church must be aimed still more at the problems of immigration, with words, denunciations and concrete actions. In short, “the relations between the three great monotheist religions need to be strengthened”.
