“Ensuring that the Mediterranean becomes a genuine place of peaceful encounter between civilizations and cultures”: that’s the hope expressed by Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, one of the promoters of a conference recently held in Barcelona on the initiative of the Joan Maragall Foundation, on the theme: “How can the Catholic cultural centres of the Mediterranean contribute to co-existence between the cultures?”. Catholic cultural centres said Cardinal Poupard must be “forums of culture and dialogue” and not “ghettoes”. Participants included some forty delegates from Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Spain, Croatia, Egypt, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Syria, Turkey, etc. Cardinal Ricard Maria Carles, archbishop of Barcelona, pointed out “the close link between Catalonia and Christianity”. Over a hundred Catholic cultural centres are in operation in Barcelona. The International Forum of Cultures is due to be held here in 2004. On that occasion, “it is essential added Cardinal Carles that the Church be open to dialogue and reconciliation”.
