The Jubilee Assembly of the Council of European Bishops Conferences (CCEE) began yesterday, September 23, 2021, with a Mass, presided over by Pope Francis in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Assembly will end on September 26.
According to a note of the CCEE, at the end of the Mass the participants in the Plenary Assembly gathered at the tomb of Saint Peter to renew their Profession of Faith. After a period of silence and personal prayer at the tombs of Saint Paul VI and John Paul I, they ended their brief pilgrimage of gratitude to the Popes that accompanied the CCRR over the last 50 years at the tomb of Saint John Paul II, with the prayer to Mary, Mother of Europe, written by the Polish Pope at the end of his Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa.
Today, September 24, the Prelates will meet in assembly to reflect on the theme chosen for this meeting: “CCEE: 50 Years at the Service of Europe, Memory, and Perspectives, in the Context of Fratelli Tutti.” After the opening address of the CCEE’s President, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, they will be guided in their reflection by the Report of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and the interventions of Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil, President of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), Rector of Portugal’s Catholic University, and of Antonio Tajani, former President of the European Parliament.
Included in the program, in addition to the Mass presided over the Holy Father, there are two significant celebrations: on Friday afternoon, the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences of the whole of Europe will be received in the Quirinal Palace by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella and, on Sunday morning, they will go to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran for a Eucharistic Celebration presided over by the recently elected President of the CCEE as well as by two new Vice-Presidents.
The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences
At the end of Vatican Council II, the Presidents of 13 European Episcopal Conferences decided to study the possibility of collaborating among them. After a series of meetings, the CCEE was constituted officially in March of 1971, with the approval of its directive standards by the Congregation for Bishops. The standards were modified later and, in 1995, the present statutes were approved.
The CCEE has 39 members, of which 33 are Episcopal Conferences, and, in addition, the Archbishops of Luxembourg, the Principality of Monaco, the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus and the Bishops of Chisinau (Moldavia) of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, and the Apostolic Administration of Estonia. Altogether they represent the Catholic Church in 45 countries of the European Continent.
The CCEE’s Presidency is made up of a President and two Vice-Presidents chosen for a renewable 5-year mandate. The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary-General appointed by the CCEE’s Plenary Assembly, for a renewable 5-year mandate, assisted by a Deputy Secretary-General appointed by the Presidency. The headquarters of the Secretariat are in Saint Gall, Switzerland.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
