.- Starting
today, leaders from the Vatican and the patriarch of Moscow are meeting
together in for an historic joint conference in Vienna, Austria to
discuss the theme, "Returning a Soul to Europe".
The conference--
the first such cooperative venture by the Vatican and the Moscow
patriarchate- will examine the role of Christian Church leadership in
preserving the "soul" of Europe. In an April 29 preview, the Pontifical
Council for Culture said that the effort is the fruit of meeting last
November between Cardinal Paul Poupard and Patriarch Alexei II.
The Archdiocese
of Vienna reported that during a November 2005 visit to Moscow, the
president of the Pontifical Council for Culture spoke with the Russian
prelate about their shared concern about "the loss of identity on the
continent," and the necessity of reviving interest in Europe's
Christian patrimony.
Cardinal Paul
Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture will co-chair
the sessions of the conference, along with Metropolitan Kirill of
Smolensk, the head of external relations for the Moscow patriarchate.
At the
conclusion of the meeting, the two prelates plan to release a joint
statement to the world leaders who will be participating in the G8
summit meeting at St. Petersburg in July.
Vienna was chosen as a site for the conference because, as the Vatican release observed, it is midway between Rome and Moscow.
Pope Benedict,
through Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, sent a message to
participants, stressing that "the Church, an expert in humanity, cannot
forget that only through fully preserving and appreciating the
patrimony of the values transmitted from its ancestors can Europe,
recognizing the diverse spiritual traditions that enrich it, write a
new page in its history that respects the dignity of the human person…”
He further
called for a new history which prohibits “violence and abuses against
human rights, which seriously obstruct the integral development of
nations and contaminate the heart of the human being, considerably
grieving the heart of the Creator".
Orthodox, Catholic leaders gather to discuss state of the ‘soul of Europe’
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