Pope Francis receives the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration

On Friday, 12 January, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration, the Holy Father received in private audience the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students, scholarship holders of the Committee, as well as the benefactors of the Committee and the Rectors of the Ecclesiastical Colleges hosting the students. 

In his speech, expressing gratitude for the work of the Committee, Pope Francis wished the students that "to the praise and glory of the Lord, these years may be, through welcome and fraternal respect, listening and sharing, a prophecy of charity and seeds of unity, for the good of all Christians in the world, and of the world itself, which needs to see new seeds of peace and communion blossom".

The members of the CCCC Management Council met on Saturday January 13 at the Domus Sanctae Marthae. The meeting concluded with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal Kurt Koch who gave the homily.

Established in 1964, the Catholic Committee for Cultural Collaboration, as part of its initiatives to re-establish fraternal relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches and Eastern Orthodox Churches, promotes cultural projects of mutual interest. In particular, it offers scholarships to Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox students who intend to further their studies in theology or other ecclesiastical disciplines in Catholic academic institutions.

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