EUROPE/GREECE - Annual Meeting of the Bishops’ Conferences of South East Europe will focus on the Social Doctrine of the Church

Corfu (Fides Service) - From 3-5 March 2006 the sixth meeting of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of South East Europe, accompanied by expert advisors, is scheduled to take place in Corfu (Greece). Six Bishops’ Conferences will be represented: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and the SS. Cyril and Methodius International Conference (Serbia and Montenegro - Macedonia). All these nations are united by the fact that they are mainly Orthodox by tradition and Muslim by religion. Also participating in the meeting will be the bishops of the Greek Bishops’ Conference and representatives of the Holy See and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (ComECE). The meeting is promoted by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), the Greek Bishops’ Conference and the Archbishop of Corfu Yannis Spiteris.
Work will begin on Friday 3 March. After the welcome from the CCEE President and the Apostolic Nuncio to Greece, Archbishop Franghískos Papamanólis President of the Greek Bishops’ Conference, will open the session with a report on Christianity and the Church in Greece. The next session will look at The Church’s social doctrine. Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for ‘Justice and Peace’ will speak on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, while Dr. Desylas Christos, economic historian and Orthodox theologian, will give a presentation on the Orthodox Church’s social doctrine. A discussion will follow, considering also the translation of the Compendium in the different countries. On Saturday 4 March, the session will be completely dedicated to the theme of migration. Each Conference President will highlight the situation, problems and pastoral initiatives linked to migration within their own country. There will then be interventions from representatives of the European institutions: Archbishop André Dupuy, Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union, Mgr Noël Treanor, ComECE General Secretary, and the Greek parliamentary representative Mr Dendias. In the second part of the day, Fr. Francesco Varthalitis and Fr. Mourtzanos Themistoklis will look at respectively the themes of Pastoral challenges for the Catholic Church in Greece and The perspective of the Orthodox Church and migration in Greece. This will be followed by reports from priests who deal with migration in Greece from the perspective of some of the countries of departure of the migrants.
In the afternoon, the participants will go on pilgrimage to the sanctuary of San Spiritone, will meet the Orthodox Metropolitan His Beatitude Nektarios and in the evening will attend a concert hosted by the Mayor of Corfu. The meeting will end on Sunday 5 March.. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 1/3/2006; righe 24, parole 312)