During the assembly of April 28th in Antwerp (Belgium), Pax Christi International appointed its new presidents: mgr. Laurent Monsengwo and Marie Tennis. Their 3-year term as joint presidents of the movement will officially begin during the world meeting, due from October 30th to November 4th 2007 in Torhout/Bruges (Belgium). Therefore, the current international president, mgr. Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, will remain in office until November 3rd 2007. Pax Christi International was founded in France by Madame Marthe Dortel-Claudot et Mons Théas as a group of European Catholics who wished to promote reconciliation after the Second World War. Today it is a network of over 100 organisations all over the world. By appointing two joint presidents, a lay woman and a bishop, explains Pax Christi, "we go back to the origins, by proposing a model of shared management within the Catholic Church". Mgr. Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya (from the Democratic Republic of Congo) is the archbishop of Kisangani and the president of the Bishops Conference. He has never stopped working for peace in his country and all over Africa. Marie Tennis (from the USA) is the director of the Maryknoll office for world problems, works for peace, social justice and the protection of the Creation.
