Vatican City, Jul 12, 2011 / 12:39 pm
The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization unveiled a new project today to re-evangelize some of Europe’s major cities.
“The goal is simple: to give a sign of unity among the diverse dioceses present in the largest European cities that have been particularly affected by secularization,” wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the council’s president, in the July 12 edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
Archbishop Fisichella chaired a summit of bishops from a range of European cities who met at the Vatican July 11 to discuss the proposed project.
The bishops came from Barcelona, Budapest, Brussels, Cologne, Dublin, Lisbon, Liverpool, Paris, Turin, Warsaw and Vienna. The scheme is being described as a “metropolitan project.”
“At the moment, the initiative is limited to some of the larger European dioceses in order to more concretely test its effectiveness,” said Archbishop Fisichella, suggesting that it could be rolled out in other cities around the globe if it is found to be successful.