"We have prayed for you and for all the Orthodox brothers and sisters who live in this big country, and we will keep doing that". This was written by mgr. Amédée Grab, the outgoing president of Ccee, to Alexius II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, in a message written on behalf of the presidents of the 34 European Bishops Conferences, at the end of the plenary meeting of Saint Petersburg. As they thanked the Patriarch for the Orthodox delegation sent to the assembly, "a sign of interest and participation in our work", mgr. Grab noted that the days spent in Russia "have been like an open window on a part of Europe where the challenge of meeting our Orthodox brothers and sisters is clear, but we could also get a glance of the variety of the Catholic experience and other Christian experiences". "One of the greatest blessings of our work reads on the message is the privilege of experiencing the joys, hopes, fears and worries of the men and women of Europe, a fact that is convincing us more and more" that the continent "needs to listen again to the Gospel of Christ". According to mgr. Grab, "here in Russia" it came out clear that "every time we can do this together, we should not do it separately", and "for us, the great challenge is to understand that in Europe this probably works anywhere".
