On the other hand, the representatives of the Italian Christian Churches will do the honours: Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (IEC), Professor Gianni Long, president of the Italian Evangelical Church Federation (IECF), and a metropolitan, Gennadios, Orthodox Archbishop of Italy and Malta. On Tuesday, January 24th, they will welcome the 150 delegates of the Churches, Episcopal Conferences, organizations, communities and ecumenical movements of Europe, in Rome, to start the process of the Third European Ecumenical Meeting (EEM3), set up by the Council of the European Episcopal Conferences (CEEC) and by the European Church Conference (ECC). The meeting in Rome will start with an evaluation of the “Ecumenical situation in Europe”, with reports by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the unity of the Christians, and by a bishop, Margot Kassmann, from the Evangelical Church of Germany. The following day will be dedicated to the perception of the “signs of the light of Christ in Europe”. Therefore, they will talk about the martyrs of the 20th century, the Taizè meeting for the young in Milan, the ecumenical twin relationships between parishes, and the European meeting in Stuttgart, promoted by the Focolare Movement. Therefore, they will start speaking about the Ecumenical Meeting in Sibiu, starting to focus on subjects and objectives. Among the most remarkable events during the Roman stage, there will be the participation in the Vespers at San Paolo fuori le Mura, presided over by Pope Benedict XVI, at the end of the Prayer week for the unity of the Christians (January 25th), and the meeting with the Holy Father, on the following day, at noon.
