Addressing the event, the CCEE President, Swiss Bishop Amedee Grab, said that the notion of Catholic Europe should not be restricted to the current 25 member-countries of the European Union.
The two-day Sarajevo conference pooled Catholic bishops from seven southeastern European countries with a population of almost 130 million. These countries hold in common the fact that they have either Orthodox or Muslim majorities, with only 3.5 million Catholics in the entire region.
Dignitaries from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia, discussed the stabilisation and social needs of the region.
Commenting on the perception of this region, Bishop Grab said the Council of the Bishops Conferences of Europe gathered 36 countries, and this organisation would like to be a bridge connecting the Church in the European Union zone and the Church outside this bloc. This debate also engaged European Parliament members and representatives of international organisations in Bosnia.
Some of the topics of the conference were the relations between Christianity and Islam and the secularisation of contemporary society.
Special guests at this event were dignitaries of the local Serb Orthodox Church, the Anglican Church, the Islamic community and humanitarian workers from Europe and America.