The annual assembly of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences ended Monday with a message of confidence in the prospects for «evangelization and transmission of the faith» in the Old World. The meeting attracted the presidents of 34 episcopates.
The Church does not feel like a besieged fortress, the bishops said, quoting an expression of Cardinal Basil Hume. Rather, «it has the intention of committing itself to an ever more missionary and cultural dynamic.»
«Every Christian is called to be a protagonist of the latter, but in this sense specific vocations to the consecrated life and the priesthood, whose number is declining in some countries of Europe, have an irreplaceable role,» the bishops explained. They called on dioceses and parishes to promote vocations.
Currently, almost half of the candidates to the priesthood in Europe come from Poland and Italy. Other countries, such as Switzerland and Spain, have seen the number of new seminarians plummet.
