Press releases

1 Jun 2014

Representatives of 22 countries attend Orthodox-Catholic Forum in Minsk

The 4th European Orthodox-Catholic Forum in Minsk MINSK, 2 June (BelTA) – Delegations of Orthodox and Catholic priests will take part in the Orthodox-Catholic Forum which will be held in Minsk on 2-6 June, BelTA learned from the official website of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.

Over 40 bishops from 22 countries are expected to attend the forum in Minsk.

On behalf of the Roman Catholic Church the forum will be attended by Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz (Belarus), Cardinal Peter Erdo, President of the Council of the European Bishops’ Conferences, Archbishop of Esztergom and Budapest (Hungary); Cardinal Vinko Puljic, Archbishop of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Moscow Paolo Pezzi (Russia); Archbishop of Trent Luigi Bressan (Italy); Archbishop of Granada Javier Martinez (Spain); Archbishop of Dijon Roland Minnerath (France).

The delegation of the Orthodox Church will include Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk Pavel, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus; Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Limouris) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate and others.

The forum aims to consolidate Christian powers of Europe, first of all, Catholic and Orthodox communities. It will help find a way out from the deep moral and social geopolitical crisis which aggravates because of the indifference to spiritual aspects of the human nature and society.

The conference of religious leaders was initiated by Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk Filaret, Patriarchal Exarch Emeritus of All Belarus and Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz in 2012.

The Orthodox-Catholic Forum “Religion and cultural pluralism: challenges for Christian churches in Europe” was blessed by Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.