International Conference ‘Give a soul to Europe. Mission and Responsibility of the Churches’ opened in Vienna

An International Conference ‘Give a Soul to Europe. Mission and Responsibility of the Churches’ opened in Vienna on 3 May 2006. It was organized by the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations and the Pontifical Council for Culture and is hosted by the Catholic Foundation ‘Pro Oriente’ based in Austria.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad leads the Russian Orthodox Church delegation comprised of clergymen, theologians, and Orthodox public figures, journalists and staff members of the church institutions.

Archbishop of Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn opened the Conference and warmly greeted the participants. He underscored the importance of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue on the Christian roots of Europe.

Metropolitan Kirill read out an address of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the participants and presented a report, in which he analyzed the ways of shaping the identity of Europe under the influence of Western and Eastern Christianity and pointed out the major challenges that Christianity is facing on the continent at present.

President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and of the Pontifical Council for Interchristian Dialogue Cardinal Paul Poupard also greeted the participants. He read out an address of the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano to the Conference on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI.

The Conference will work till May 5 discussing connection between fundamental Christian values and different aspects of life of the present-day European society within such themes as ‘Europe: Churches facing the challenge of globalization’, ‘Influence of Christian ethics on politics, economy and mass media’ ‘Dialogue of Churches with other religions and secular cultures’.

• Conference ‘Give a Soul to Europe. Mission and Responsibility of the Churches’ completes its work in Vienna
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• International Conference ‘Give a soul to Europe. Mission and Responsibility of the Churches’ opened in Vienna
• His Holiness Patriarch Alexy greets participants in the International Conference ‘Give a Soul to Europe. Mission and Responsibility of the Churches’
  Vienna, Austria, 3-5 May 2006