Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Czestochowa (Agenzia Fides) - “A divided Church is against the will of Jesus Christ and is anti-missionary and anti-evangelizing. We should use every means possible, such as prayer, to fulfill Jesus' will. Loving the Church, for priests, means realizing that this is not going well. We need to maintain Christ's spirit and bear witness to unity.” This is what Agenzia Fides learned from Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, who participated in the International Conference of Canonists in Czestochowa, September 8-9.
“Interfaith relations in the realization of the Church's mission” was the theme of the International Conference of Canonists held in the John Paul II Auditorium of the Archdiocesan Major Seminary of Czestochowa, September 8-9. The Conference was attended by nearly 150 canonists from various countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belorussia, France, and Italy. Among them was Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Bishop Tadeusz Pikus, President of the Polish Bishops' Commission for Ecumenism; canonists from the Catholic University of Lublin, the Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
The canonists discussed themes like the Bond of the Sacraments – one the necessary conditions for the participation of the faithful in ecclesial communion, the right of the faithful to the sacraments, the “Communicatio in sacris” in the law and practice of the particular Churches in the countries of Europe; the process for dissolution of marriages in favor of the faith; the legislative form for mixed marriages.
Making reference to the theme of the Conference, Archbishop Coccopalmerio told Fides: “I think that the theme chosen by the Polish canonists for the Conference is very important and pertinent, as the Church is called in these times to an ecumenical activity of greater conviction. For our part, although this is always a work of God, we should strengthen full unity among the Churches. We should have an authentic passion for ecumenism.” (MF/SL) (Agenzia Fides 11/09/2009)
