Brussels Event Aims at Evangelizing the City

BRUSSELS, Belgium, OCT. 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Brussels will be the venue of a congress of evangelization that aims to establish contact with all the citizens of the city.

The Oct. 28-Nov. 5 congress, entitled "Proposing the Gospel," follows in the wake of similar congresses in Vienna, Paris and Lisbon over the past three years.

"In line with previous congresses, we will attempt to make the Catholic Church more visible on Brussels' landscape" and to make clearer "the role of Christians in this necessary humanization," wrote Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Malines-Brussels, on convoking this initiative.

Among Brussels' 2.5 million inhabitants, 65% are baptized Catholics, but only 5% practice their faith.

On launching the project "Brussels All Saints 2006," Cardinal Danneels in a communiqué invites all Christians "to reflect in greater depth on their identity and responsibilities to this indispensable humanization of Brussels: the Christian faith makes people more human and humanizes the city. This reflection challenges all, whether or not they are believers."

See www.bruxelles-toussaint2006.be/indexen.php.