Spirituality: Santiago de Compostela, meeting of Spanish and French bishops. Reflections on the Way and pilgrims. Joint pastoral letter tomorrow

This morning, Santiago de Compostela hosted a meeting of French and Spanish bishops from the dioceses located along the Way of St James. The opening address, after Mass, was given by the archbishop of Santiago, Julian Barrio. A lecture on “relationships between France, St James’s Cathedral and pilgrims” was held by Adeline Rucquoi, an expert in medieval history of the Iberian peninsula. In the afternoon, the bishops discussed and approved a “pastoral letter” that will be posted tomorrow. In the two days’ meeting, the bishops will also visit St James’s places. This is the VI meeting of bishops from the dioceses located along the Way of St James. The last one had been held in 2015, in the attempt to revive the spiritual meaning of that walk of faith, which has left its stamp on the history of Christian Europe, and for the French and Spanish bishops to jointly offer a common pastoral service of evangelisation for the Walk. In the 2015 meeting, the bishops had published a joint pastoral letter for the first time, called: “The Way of St James: quest and encounter”. The cue that prompted the bishops’ reflections was that 70% of the people who go on the Way of St James do not have religious reasons, but are driven by a quest for meaning and for something new in their lives.