CWN - Following a four-day meeting in Lviv, 45 Eastern Catholic bishops in Europe issued a joint statement on ecumenism, mission, and the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“We reaffirm with greater awareness our right and duty to the pastoral care of our faithful wherever they are, including the right to proclaim the Gospel to those who do not know it yet,” the prelates said.

“We affirm that the division of the one Church of Christ is an ecclesiological anomaly which cannot be considered as a standard for the life and mission of the Church,” they continued. “We share with the Orthodox churches the same concern for the cultural and social trends that are leading to a progressive de-Christianization and secularization of Europe.”

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