(from our correspondent) "As Europeans, we beg for forgiveness for our responsibilities in the huge tragedy of African slavery. But looking for culprits in the past is not enough. The Church must commit itself in our time to free its contemporaries of modern slavery and not hear in one hundred years’ time: ‘you did nothing’. In this circumstance, Christians are called once again to be the witnesses and the protagonists of release": it was stated today by card. Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb and deputy president of the Council of European Bishops Conferences (Ccce), as he spoke at the first session about the biblical-theological perspectives, also broadened by card. Peter Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast of the workshop on "Slavery and new slavery" which will be held in Cape Coast, in the Ghana, until November 18th. Card. Bozanic went through the history of slavery in the Greek and Roman world, in ancient Israel and at the drawn of Christianity. In Greece, for instance, it was "accepted and justified by such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle", because "the Greeks considered themselves naturally above the barbarians". (continued)
