The Continental Phase
Continental Assemblies
The Continental Synodal Assembly in Europe
The continental stage of the Synod is organised by the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, in collaboration with the Czech Bishops' Conference and the Archdiocese of Prague
Venue: Prague (Czech Republic)
Dates: 5 - 12 February 2023
The assembly will be held in two parts
- a first part with the participation of 200 delegates from 5 to 9 February
- a second part with the participation of 39 Bishops' Conference presidents in Europe, from 9 to 12 February
Participants in Prague: 200
- 156 delegates from the Bishops' Conferences: each national delegation will be composed of the President of the Bishops' Conference and 3 other delegates;
- 44 will be the guests invited directly by the CCEE Presidency, as representatives of the most representative ecclesial realities at European level.
390 delegates will also participate remotely (online) at the Assembly (10 for each Bishops' Conference).
Journalists and members of the media who wish to cover the works of the European Stage in Prague Feb.5 through 12 must send an accreditation request indicating personal information (name, media, e-mail and phone number) along with a copy of the ID. The request must be sent at this e-mail address: accreditation.media@ccee.eu
For more information: www.ccee.eu - media@ccee.eu
LOGO FOR THE CONTINENTAL STAGE OF THE SYNOD
PRAGUE 2022
The logo is based on the official logo of the Synod, which shows God's people in their diversity walking through the world with the Holy Spirit hovering over them.
In the logo for the Prague meeting, the people of God walk on the Charles Bridge, the symbol of Prague, which since the Middle Ages has connected the two banks of the Vltava River and the two parts of Prague (Prague was originally a system of four independent cities, merged into one only at the end of the 18th century).
On the right in the logo is the Old Town Bridge Tower, because the bridge has such a medieval tower at each of its ends. It was both a gate that protected the bridge and a kind of triumphal arch through which the Czech king passed on his coronation journey. On the left in the logo is the silhouette of the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslas and Adalbert, the most sacred place in Prague and the Czech Republic, where we will also celebrate one of the services during the Synod meeting in February 2023.
The connection of the two logos thus reinforces the idea of synodality by showing that the people of God do not walk together in some imaginary setting, but in the concrete conditions of this world.
Walking on a bridge that connects shores and divided worlds, synodality thus contributes to overcoming obstacles, building bridges and establishing relationships between people with each other and between man and God. The wandering people of God are directed to the tower-gate through which they enter the city.
This depiction may evoke both the eschatological dimension of the wandering of God's people as they head for the heavenly Jerusalem where the Lamb is the light (cf. Rev. 21). After all, the emperor and Czech king Charles IV (1316-1378), builder of the Charles Bridge, conceived of Prague as the New Jerusalem, the centre of Christianity.
