VATICAN CITY, MAY 3, 2006 (VIS) - "Returning a Soul to Europe", is the theme of a conference taking place in Vienna, Austria from May 3 to May 5. The conference plans to discuss Christian culture and has been organized, for the first time, jointly by the Holy See and the patriarch of Moscow.
Accordingly, Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano sent a message in the name of the Holy Father to the participants. In the message, he underlines that "the Church, 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, definitively prohibiting 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".
According to a communique made public yesterday, "this meeting is the fruit of Cardinal Paul Poupard's visit to His Holiness Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow, in November of 2004. Cardinal Poupard is the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The conference was born in the common concern shared by Christians in Europe to confront the Continent's loss of identity, to reflect on the Christian people of Europe, and to propose a plan for the future.
Presiding will be Cardinal Poupard and Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. The meeting has been made possible thanks to support from the foundation "Pro Orient", located in Vienna. Experts from all over the Continent, lay and religious, are participating, having been chosen by the two groups that have called the initiative together.
Among the themes to be discussed over the three days of the conference will be: "Europe: The Churches before the Challenges of Globalization and Modernity, Religious Sects, New Forms of Disbelief and Religious Indifference"; "The Influence of the Christian Ethic in Politics, Economy and the Means of Communication"; and "Dialogue among the Churches with other Religions and the Humanism of Secularized Cultures".
CON-C/CHRISTIAN CULTURE:EUROPE/POUPARD VIS 20060503 (370)
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