(From SIR Europa’s correspondent in Esztergom – Hungary) From 1st to 4th October 2009, Paris will host the next plenary assembly of the Council of the European Bishops Conferences (Ccee). The news has been announced today at the press conference in Esztergom/Budapest, where the 2008 assembly has just ended, by card. Peter Erdõ, president of Ccee and primate of Hungary. "These moments of study and discussion that also use research in different spheres stated the cardinal, with reference to the yearly meetings of the presidents of the European Bishops Conferences have become increasingly substantial, give visibility to the communion of the Catholic Church in Europe and express a shared pastoral attention to the growth of Europe, with its problems, its uncertainties, its expectations. But increasing attention it also being paid to the future of the other continents, just think of the presence over these days of the delegates of the Bishops Conferences of Africa and Latin America, with which we keep regular contacts". These assemblies, recalled the president of Ccee, are built around "the pastoral work of the Catholic Churches, are an exchange of gifts and a shared time of prayer". Attention is "mostly focussed on situations of distress in Europe and in the world. These days, we are thinking of the Christians who are persecuted in India; we asked to protect and respect them".
