ccee-comece" "
The presidents of the Episcopal Conferences of South-East Europe are due to meet in Belgrade from 20 to 22 February. The seven countries represented at the meeting are all countries in which the Catholic Church forms a minority, while the majority is either Orthodox or Moslem: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey. Representatives of the Holy See, CCEE and COMECE will also be present. “Wide coverage says a communiqué put out by the CCEE will be given, at the beginning of the meeting, to a shared exchange on the urgent problems faced by these countries at the present time, in the ecumenical, inter-religious, social and political spheres”. On Saturday, 21 February, a study session will be dedicated to the issue of “poverty as challenge for the Church”. A second phase of the work will focus on “Europe and Christianity” in the context of the process of European unification: the Orthodox Bishop of Novi Sad Irinej will also participate in the debate. On Saturday morning the participants will be received by His Beatitude Pavle, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, for a brotherly exchange. In the evening, a prayer vigil of youth for Christian unity and for the witness of Christians in Europe will be held in the cathedral of Belgrade, beginning at 17.00. It will be followed by a solemn eucharistic concelebration, officiated by Bishop Amédée Grab, president of the CCEE, and accompanied by an Orthodox choir. The Minister of Cult of the Serbian government will also be present. The meeting will end on Sunday with a summary of the work and the definition of some specific proposals for the future.
