An international conference with the title “Christianity, culture and moral values” was held at the headquarters of the Academy of Sciences in Moscow on 19-21 June. The meeting, which brought together some fifty scholars from Russia, Great Britain, Italy and the USA, had been promoted by the Academy of Sciences, the Department of External Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Pontifical Council for Culture. It was a follow-up to conference held in Vienna last year under the title “Giving a soul to Europe”. The main speakers were Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, on behalf of the Patriarchate of Moscow, and Cardinal Paul Poupard, on behalf of the Catholic Church. The meeting ended with the presentation of a final document in which the participants recognize that “there is a void of religious and moral values in European countries” and that a great deal of responsibility falls on the formation of the young and on the means of information. In the document the participants also express their conviction of the importance of continuing to develop cooperation between the Churches on these issues.
