Mgr. Piero Coccia, archbishop of Pesaro, will head a delegation from his diocese, which, on the invitation of the Anglican bishop of St. Albans (a diocese south of London), Christopher Herbert, on Sunday 20th January will attend the ecumenical prayer for the 100th anniversary of the "Octave of prayer for the unity of the Christians". "The date explains to SIR father Giorgio Paolini, director of the Office for Ecumenism of Pesaro is a powerful moment in a series of ecumenical contacts that since 1999 have been established between the two dioceses, in implementation of the project called "Ecumenical pilgrimages between European parishes", which also involved some parishes of their respective local Churches. Even in some earlier "Weeks of prayer for the unity of the Christians", some Anglican delegations, headed by an auxiliary bishop of the diocese of St. Albans, had joined some ecumenical vigils in the metropolitan parish of Pesaro. In 2007, the two bishops had shared some significant events of prayer and fraternal exchanges, during an ecumenical pilgrimage to Assisi". The archbishop of Pesaro will be accompanied by 22 priests and lay people, on behalf of the Metropolitan Diocese of Pesaro, Fano and Urbino. The meeting between the two bishops will be an opportunity to develop further cooperation plans between the two dioceses, especially in the area of the youth pastoral.” “
