The plenary assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of the Nordic Countries that had met in Rome on 1st September is over. “The meeting with Pope Leo was the highlight of the four days’ meeting”, a release issued today says: the Pope received the Bishops on Thursday morning, “just after the meeting with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog”, the release points out. The Pope spoke off the cuff and urged the Bishops to “be constantly committed to true ecumenism”. In addition, he entrusted them with the task of donating the evangelical message to people who long for a full life. “With the joy and faith that is so lively in your countries, you have something to give to the universal Church!”, the Pope also said to the Bishops. The assembly had been opened by the President of the Bishops’ Conference, Erik Varden (Trondheim), who gave a speech “about holiness, courage and virtue in a world ridden with war, fragmentation and moral uncertainty”. The talks among the Bishops pointed to “an increasing interest in the Catholic Church” in all the Nordic Countries, with a constantly-rising number of converts and baptismal candidates. So, there is not just the need to welcome such people, “but there’s also a need to give them the tools to become sensible and reliable witnesses of the Gospel”. One of the outcomes of the plenary assembly was an “inter-Nordic coordination council” that will have to “implement the results of the synodal process”. Part of the assembly was also focussed on the Middle East, through the experience of the Bishop Emeritus Peter Bürcher, member of the Holy Land Coordination. The Bishops called on the believers of the Nordic Countries to pray on 14th September for a true, just and lasting peace in the Holy Land.