Friday, January 16, 2015

Conclusion of the meeting of presidents of Doctrinal Commissions


Vatican City, 16 January 2015 (VIS) – From 13 to 15 January the superiors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met with the presidents or representatives of the Doctrinal Commissions of the European Episcopal Conferences at the St. Adalbert Centre in Esztergom, Hungary. It was attended by, among others, Cardinal Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Luis F. Ladaria S.J., secretary of the same dicastery, and representatives of the various doctrinal commissions.

The meeting began with the reading of a letter from Pope Francis addressed to the participants, in which he emphasised that the initiative sought to enhance the role of local Episcopates, and in particular their Doctrinal Commissions, “in their responsibility for the unity and integrity of the faith” and its transmission to the young. With reference his apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”, the Pope expresses in his letter his hope that the meeting will will contribute to finding a collegial solution to the many doctrinal and pastoral difficulties that exist in present-day Europe, and inspire in the faithful “a new missionary zeal and greater openness to the transcendent dimension of life, without which Europe risks losing the very 'humanistic spirit' that it loves and defends”.

During the three-day meeting, which was characterised by cordiality and a spirit of affective and effective collegiality, a number of issues were considered in relation to the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel as the primary task of the Church in Europe, questions posed by gender theory, Christian anthropology and religious freedom, and the practical issues linked to the new evangelisation, the sacrament of reconciliation and the functioning of the Doctrinal Commission.


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