(From Poznań) The job of the Church in Europe is serving “the unity of the European continent”. This was said by don Martin Michalíček, the new general secretary of CCEE, appointed for a five-year tenure by the presidents of the European Bishops Conferences. Speaking at the plenary meeting that is taking place in Poznań, Poland, don Michalíček said: “Quite a few challenges await us, and they are not small. In 2004, when the Central European countries joined the European Union, there was great excitement for that unity, there were confidence and hope in the future of Europe, now there’s a feeling of listlessness. We realised that this unity we relied so much upon is not an easy feat. In this scenario, the job of the Catholic Church is serving the unity of the European continent. The Church is a global body, there’s nothing like that that has such a worldwide dimension as the Catholic Church does, and this also applies to the European Church, which can help this process of unity, inspired by solidarity. In this process, the Catholic Church should be free to express its opinions and should not be bound by politics or by the interests of the political forces”. As to the most “sensitive” issues that are being discussed within the European Churches as well, don Michalíček mentioned the protection of Creation and the migration. “Obviously – he added –, we should not focus all our attention on the sociological dimension of such phenomena but focus on the dimension of the announcement”. We should not repeat “what is done in the world or in the political arena”, because “the Church has its own contribution, and that is integral humanism. Our effort is not all about pure water and air, it is about the purity of life as a whole: purity in our relationships and in our affections, purity of conscience, the protection of humans, because defending natural life and not defending human life, from its conception to its natural end, is a contradiction”. “The main job of the Church – the new general secretary of Ccee concludes – is always announcing Christ, by reading the signs of the times, where this prophetic dimension, which is the unique contribution that only the Church can make, must be taken”.