THE MISSIONE AD GENTES IN EUROPE IN THE APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION ECCLESIA IN EUROPA (2003)

XAVERIAN MISSION CONFERENCE Tavernerio July 2012

ECCLESIA IN EUROPA

After the Synods for Africa, Asia and America, in 1999 Pope John Paul II summoned a Synod for Europe to discuss the topic «Jesus Christ alive in his Church, the source of hope for Europe». This was the second synod for Europe after the 1991 Synod, which was held not long after the fall of the Berlin wall, and it was connected to the new situation in Europe after the end of the Soviet empire. John Paul II was well aware of the many sensitive problems of the Church in Europe that had remained open after the first synod in 1991. This explains why he summoned the European bishops to a new Synod, the result of which was the apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, published in 2003, a document of 124 paragraphs divided into six chapters.