A meeting of the presidents of the East-Central European bishops' conferences was held in Budapest; the central idea of the two-day meeting was peace, the press service of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference (MKPK) told MTI on Tuesday.
The event was attended, among others, by Gintaras Grusas , Archbishop of Vilnius, President of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, András Veres , President of the MKPK, Péter Erdő , Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Mario Grech , Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, the Slovak, the Polish, presidents and representatives of the Romanian, Slovenian, Croatian and Bosnia-Herzegovina episcopal conferences, as well as the Saint Cyril and Methodius episcopal conference of Serbia and other states.
András Veres' greeting, II. quoted from the document of the Vatican Council: "peace is not the mere absence of war, nor can it be narrowed down to the perpetuation of the balance of opposing forces, nor does it arise from measures of power, but truly and specifically the work of justice". The president of the MKPK reminded that the glad tidings of the birth of Jesus were brought to the shepherds by angels proclaiming peace: "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people of good will" . So there can be peace where people accept Jesus , the bringer of peace, and people's hearts that want good are opened towards others, he added.
Michael Wallace Banach spoke about how the church is peace-loving, and then asked the question, what does the church do for peace? He noted that this question should resonate in people's hearts.
Gintaras Grusas asked everyone to pray for the peace of Ukraine and Europe.
The participants of the conference took part in the Holy Mass in the St. Right Chapel of the St. Stephen's Basilica on Monday evening, the ceremony Cardinal Péter Erdő .
Mario Grech also emphasized the importance of peace, and then presented the process of the synod on the Church.
The meeting ended at the Sándor Palace at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Katalin Novák
Source: MTI
(Cover photo: Ambrus Marcsi )
