Catholic & Orthodox bishops unite to defend religious freedom

ROME, DEC. 15, 2011 thanks to Zenit.org

A two-day conference held in Moscow ended with leaders from the Orthodox and Catholic Churches agreeing that they need to work to together to better help Christians that are persecuted. The conference on "Religious freedom: the problem of discrimination and persecution of Christians," was hosted by the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, according to a report on it published Wednesday by Aid to the Church in Need.

"We Christians are all in the same boat. At times when Christians are suffering persecution, our solidarity is needed," commented Peter Humeniuk, who was there as a Russian expert from Aid to the Church in Need, which helped fund the conference.

The meeting took place shortly after a report from the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) showed that at least 75% of all religious persecution is directed against Christians. Among those present in Moscow were Archbishop Ivan Jurkovitch, apostolic nuncio to the Russian Federation, Archbishop Erwin Josef Ender, retired nuncio to Germany, and the archbishop of the Diocese of Mother of God at Moscow, Paolo Pezzi.