"The importance of the respect of life, the supreme value of marriage and the family, the support and assistance of the poor, forgiveness and charity". Quoting part of the European Charta Oecumenica signed by the Churches in Strasbourg in 2001, the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew opened this morning the third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu. "We remain firm on these Christian principles and values. We have before our eyes the very disappointing reality of the contemporary world, in which a confusion of values prevails and the fight between light and darkness goes on endlessly". "We are worried he said for the human being, created to resemble God, but at the same time trodden over and ignored every day. We are worried for the family and its essential role. We are worried for the workers who are merely used as a means for consumption and production. We are worried for God’s Creation that is endlessly and shamelessly exploited. We are worried about climate, air and the oxygen that today’s men have to breathe and that the future generation, we are afraid, will look for in vain. Finally, we are worried for the mere survival of mankind on this continent and on the whole planet".
