RELIGION AND RECONCILIATION IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2000 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace this afternoon made public a communique from the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference about the May 31-June 2 international conference in Budapest titled "Religion and Reconciliation in South-East Europe."

The Hungarian bishops co-organized the meeting with the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage. The main topics of the conference, included: the theological foundation of reconciliation; relation of national identity and religion; conditions of a peaceful coexistence; the Church for the promotion of peace and security and inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. Religious leaders representing the Orthodox, Reformed and Catholic Churches as well as the Islamic community were in attendance.

The communique states that the Hungarian "Iustitia et Pax" Commission organized the conference "with the conviction that religion plays an important role in the comprehension, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence of nations."

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