On 6th November, the Papal Portuguese College of Rome hosted a special meeting of the Portuguese Bishops Conference (Cep), with 34 bishops. On the occasion of the visit Ad Limina apostolorum, the plenary meeting launched three major pastoral challenges for the near future. With reference to the internal organisation and working potentials of the Portuguese Church, the president of Cep, mgr. Jorge Ortiga, stated that “it can be appropriate to recognise the need of a more significant and proactive presence of the church, aimed at outlining national projects that instead of reducing will give more prominence to the individuality of each diocese”. Secondly, the archbishop of Braga emphasised the need to have more responsible European integration: “Article 15 of the Reform Treaty, in recalling the importance of the cultural, religious and humanistic heritage, in acknowledging that the European Union must respect and not impair the Churches, religious associations and communities, under the national legislation of each member state, not only places responsibility for the recognition of the Christian roots of Europe but also lays the foundations for evangelisation to keep permeating everything that is human”. The third major pastoral target was the run-up to the celebration of the centenary of the establishment of the Portuguese Republic in 2010: “A national scheme and a survey by the Church based on the experience acquired at that time must be developed, so that those events may be correctly construed. I think such anniversary should not be overlooked: we have to be attuned with the heroism of the pastors and Christians of that time for our love of the current Church to grow “.
