"The Council of Europe (COE) may reach its goals only together with Churches and religious communities, not without them, and certainly not against them", said Ulrich Bunjes, from the Office of the Council of Europe for intercultural dialogue, during his greetings to the participants in the yearly plenary assembly of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC/KEK). The subject of the meeting, closing yesterday at the main headquarters in St. Etchmiadzin, near the town of Yerevan, in Armenia, was: "Churches in Europe and intercultural dialogue". "Meeting in Armenia was very important. Here, the Church and the population, religion and culture, are closely linked", commented Rüdiger Noll, director of the above-mentioned Commission and associated secretary general of CEC/KEK. He heartily thanked Karekin II, Catholikos of all the Armenians, for the invitation allowing him "to get in touch with the Armenian Orthodox Apostolic Church, one of the oldest in the Continent". (To be continued)” ” ” “
