Following the 13-15 March 2019 COMECE Assembly, the Bishops Conferences of the EU have elected Father Manuel Enrique Barrios Prieto as future General Secretary of COMECE. Father Prieto will succeed Father Olivier Poquillon OP as General Secretary on 1 September 2019. Father Barrios’ mandate, according to the new statute of COMECE, will last four years.
Father Prieto graduated from the Pontifical Gregorian University as a Doctor of Theology. He has been the Director for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue at the Spanish Bishops’ Conference since 2011.
COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, is made up of Bishops delegated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the 28 Member States of the European Union. COMECE monitors the political process of the European Union in all areas of interest to the Church. Its headquarters are in Brussels where a small team monitors and analyses developments in EU policies and initiatives and strives to contribute to the relevant processes. The Secretariat reports to the Standing Committee and to the Plenary Assembly. Bishop Noel Treanor of the Diocese of Down and Connor is Vice President of COMECE.
Under the new General Secretary, COMECE will continue its mission of dialogue with the EU institutions, working for the common good and promoting Catholic perspectives on topics of competence of the European Union.
A press conference will be organised on Monday 16 September on the occasion of the COMECE Standing Committee to introduce the future General Secretary together with Mgr. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of COMECE, and the Vice Presidents.
For more see www.comece.eu.
ENDS