Press Release

3rd European Catholic Social Days to be held in Bratislava on 17-20 March 2022

The 3rd edition of the European Catholic Social Days was presented during a press conference held at the Holy See Press Office in Rome on Friday 10 December 2022 by COMECE, CCEE, the Slovak Bishops’ Conference and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The event is to take place in Bratislava on 17-20 March 2022 with a focus on the Christian contribution for a more solidary, social and just recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Press Conference, Vatican City. (Credit: COMECE)

The goal of the event is to promote dialogue on social justice within the Church and among Europeans, especially in the context of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and its severe effects on the political, economic and social systems of European societies.

The 3rd edition of the European Catholic Social Days is to take place in Bratislava (Slovakia) on 17-20 March 2022, with around 300 participants, among which Church representatives, EU and national politicians, academics, young people and members of Catholic social movements and organisations.

Together, they will address and discuss some of the major issues of concern for the Church, in a context marked by demographic imbalances, technological disruption and ecological injustices.

Three main sessions are planned: a) demographic transition and family life; b) technological and digital transition; c) ecological transition.

Credit: Conferenza Episcopale Slovacca

Participants will also include Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Democracy and Demography, H.E. Mgr. Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, Secretary of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The full list of participants, as well as the complete programme of the event, will be published on the official website: www.catholicsocialdays.eu.

While organisers hope to meet in person, the format of the event will be adapted to the measures eventually taken by the local authorities in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative is promoted by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), and the Slovak Episcopal Conference, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The previous two editions were organised in Gdansk and Madrid, respectively in 2009 and 2014.

The press conference launching the 3rd European Catholic Social Days was held in the Holy See Press Office in Rome by H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, H.E. Mgr. Gintaras Grušas, H.E. Mgr. Stanislav Zvolenský, and H. Em. Card. Peter Turkson.