Bratislava, February 17 (TK KBS) Slovakia will host the European Catholic Social Days in a month (17-22 March 2022). More than 150 delegates of bishops' conferences (bishops, priests and lay people) from all over Europe will come to Bratislava to discuss the theme "Europe beyond the pandemic: a new beginning". By choosing the theme, the organisers are responding to the situation in Europe reeling from the pandemic, according to today’s online meeting of the organisers.

The event is organised by the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) and the Slovak Bishops' Conference (KBS). They are organising it with the Vatican's Dicastery for Integral Human Development. In Slovakia, the event will host Dicastery’s interim prefect, Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, President of COMECE, Archbishop of Luxembourg, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, and the President of CCEE, Mons. Gintaras Grušas, Archbishop of Vilnius. The conference languages will be English, Italian and Slovak. The event will also be streamed online.

The first European Catholic Social Days took place from 8 to 11 October 2009 in Gdansk, Poland. The theme was "Solidarity - a challenge for Europe". There began a tradition of regular meetings bringing together Catholic women and men from all over Europe at approximately three to four yearly intervals - with the aim to reflect on Europe and the European Union, drawing on the Church's social teaching. The second European Catholic Social Days took place from 18 to 21 September 2014 in Madrid. They reflected on the theme "Christian faith and the future of Europe".