The spring session of the plenary assembly of Austrian bishops is due to end tomorrow, 15 March, at Mönchhof. Central topic at the meeting is the forthcoming visit of the Pope to Austria. Another aspect of the plenary is the commemoration of Cardinal Franz König, on the third anniversary of his death. A shared celebration was dedicated to his memory in St. Stephen’s Cathedral on 13 March. It preceded the award of the prize named after Cardinal König to the head of world Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople: a tangible sign of the importance of ecumenical dialogue between Western and Eastern Churches. The questions on the order of the day of the plenary also included an analysis of the current socio-political situation, the elections of the parish councils due to take place throughout Austria on 18 March, preparations for the Third European Ecumenical Assembly at Sibiu in September and the meeting between Croatian and Austrian bishops at Zagreb on 30 May-1st June.
