Spokespersons of the European Bishops' Conferences met in Prague

https://episkopat.pl/doc/230038.W-Pradze-spotkali-sie-rzecznicy-Konferencji-Episkopatow-Europy

The main issue of the meeting of spokespersons in Prague was the media message in the context of the Jubilee Year 2025, especially the message of the Church, which is to be, above all, a message of hope in contemporary Europe.

In the context of the work of the media in the service of the Church, inspiration for further discussion was presented to the meeting participants by Prof. Daniel Arasa, Dean of the Faculty of Institutional Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. In turn, from a Vatican perspective, the main challenges of media messages at the turn of the pontificates of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV were pointed out by Dr Alessandro Gisotti, Deputy Director for Programmes of the Vatican Dicastery for Communications.

The discussion also highlighted various aspects of the ministry of Church media people in the current socio-cultural context. The spokespersons also discussed social issues of importance to the Church from a European perspective. One of the points of this discussion was the voices of journalists working in both the Vatican and the Czech Republic. Guests at the meeting included Javier Martínez-Brocal, correspondent of the Spanish Daily ABC, and Josef Pazderka, editor-in-chief of the Czech public radio station Český rozhlas Plus.

The participants acknowledged that today, more than ever, Europe needs to make its own the communication of the Good News of the “hope that does not disappoint”, in a historical moment that risks being marked by desperation due to the bloody wars and inhumane violence that are spreading in many parts of the world. This reflection resonated particularly strongly in the context of the testimony on the current situation in Ukraine.

An important part of the meeting was the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours prayed together. The spokespersons visited the Archcathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert in Prague, the Sanctuary of the Infant Jesus of Prague, the Church of Our Lady before Týn and the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Norbertine Monastery in Strahov. The spokespersons were accompanied in the liturgies and meetings by, among others, Cardinal Dominik Duka, Senior Metropolitan of Prague, Archbishop Jan Graubner, Metropolitan of Prague, Bishop Zdenek Waserbauer, Auxiliary Bishop of Prague, Bishop Vlastimil Kročil, Bishop of České Budějovice, and Rev. Roman Czudek, Secretary General of the Czech Bishops' Conference.

The Polish Bishops' Conference was represented at the three-day meeting in Prague by Fr Leszek Gęsiak SJ, spokesman of the Polish Bishops' Conference.

The next annual meeting of CCEE spokespersons will take place from 5-7 May 2026 in Rome.

Press Office of the Polish Bishops' Conference