Intervention of Rev. F. Khalil ALWAN, Secretary General of the "Conseil des Patriarches Catholiques d'Orient" (C.P.C.O.) (LEBANON)

Paragraph 55 of the Instrumentum ;laboris did not take into consideration the large role that the Councils play in reinforcing communion between the Catholic Churches and in encouraging ecumenical and religious dialogue.
After having listed the activities of the CCEP, after 20 years of existence, on the level of pastoral theology, ecumenism, the common pastoral and coordination between Catholic Churches, I feel the CCEP suffers a handicap on the level of communication. I propose to the Synodal Assembly:

- Modifying the CCEP statutes to allow the assemblies of bishops from each country to be represented in the annual congress of the CCEP and that their representative may have the power to transmit and put into act the decisions within his assembly.
-The Organization of the congress of Catholic Patriarchs and bishops of the Middle East.
Finally, I see that the ecclesiastical authorities, the Roman dicasteries and the western episcopal conferences, and their associations seem to ignore this instance due to a lack of information. This is why, I propose also that the CCEP be added in the Annuarium Pontificium, like all the pontifical and other instances.

[00078-02.03] [IN056] [Original text: French]