” “"An event that paved the way to the informal meeting of the representatives of different ecclesial, social and political worlds, so as to open a comparison of a wealth of experiences that can be hardly ever found in more academic meetings". This, according to mgr. Stanislas Lalanne, secretary general of the French Bishops Conference, is one of the strengths of the Comece congress that is ending tomorrow. A positive balance, he explains to SIR, partly due to the choice of subjects, because "it is important to understand the present and plan the future, partly through the knowledge of the past". According to mgr. Lalanne, "the meeting also shed light on "the special, unique contribution that the Church did and do give, even if not exclusively, to the building of Europe, by recalling on which criteria it must be founded". "This afternoon, in particular concludes the secretary of the French Bishops Conference , I have seen the horizon being broadened to the whole world. Before a Europe that risks withdrawing onto itself, it is important to reassert the value of communion in diversity, especially in the name of the responsibility that we all have towards the poorer countries".” “
