” “"We have come here from all over Europe to express our deepest sympathy and friendship to the Catholics who live in this big country. With the delegates of the Patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia, we have prayed for this presence of ours to contribute to increase esteem and cooperation between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church". This is a passage of the message addressed by the 34 presidents of the European Bishops Conferences to Benedict XVI, at the end of their plenary meeting in Saint Petersburg. As they thanked the Pontiff for the message and the apostolic blessing he sent in the last few days, the presidents and members of Ccee state they have "reflected on how to extend the service of Ccee, in cooperation with Comece, for evangelisation, dialogue between religions, ecumenism, the process of European unification. We are very grateful they write of the fact You are very clearly showing" to everybody "the need of rediscovering the beauty of the Christian faith. We share Your concern and Your grief for the fact that today’s great mobilisation of peoples and cultures hides the risk of exploiting religion to justify irrational and violent actions. We reassure You of our effort to promote true dialogue" and the "rationale of love that You showed us in Deus Caritas est". ” “
