On October 29, 30 and 31, 2021, the “V European Forum One of Us” took place in Lisbon.
The conference was opened by Isilda Pegado, President of the Portuguese Federation for Life and Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of the European Federation One of Us, Spain. The first round table of the Forum focused on the Judeo-Christian roots of Europe, and was moderated by former MEP José Ribeiro e Castro. The bishop of Madeira, Mons. D. Nuno Brás da Silva Martins; the Dutch Reverend Cornelius Sonnevelt; the Bishop of San Sebastián, Mons. José Ignacio Munilla Aguirre; the rabbi of the Jewish community in Lisbon, Rav. D. Rubén Switzerland; and Pr. D. Jerónimo Filipe Thomaz, from the Russian Orthodox Church in Portugal.
This was followed by the second round table, which dealt with integral ecology and the defense of life in the future of Europe. Moderated by the vice-president of the European Federation One of Us and director of the French Foundation Jérôme Lejeune, Thierry de la Villejegu, the Slovak Miriam Lexmann, MEP (GrupoPPE); João Luís César das Neves, professor and president of the Scientific Council of the School of Business and Catholic Economics-Lisbon; the Maltese Tonio Borg, former European Health Commissioner; and Julio Tudela Cuenca, director of the Bioethics Observatory at the Catholic University of Valencia, Spain.
Challenges of the future
The third round table dealt with the current threats to freedom in Europe and the challenges of the future. It was moderated by the Slovak Miroslav Mikolasik, member of the Executive of One of Us and former MEP. The rector of the Portuguese Catholic University, Isabel Capeloa Gil; Pedro Barbas Homem, the professor at the Lisbon Law School and former rector of the European University; the Frenchman Christophe Foltzenlogel, legal adviser at the European Center of Law and Justice; and Lodz Peterle, former Prime Minister of Slovenia.
The fourth round table studied the demographic balance: aging and family in the future of Europe, with the German Christian Frei, member of the Cultural One of Us platform as moderator. The speakers were Alejandro Macarrón Larumbe, Founder and General Director of the Spanish Demographic Renaissance Foundation; Slovak Anna Zsáborská, former MEP of the Christian Union Party; the Hungarian Molnár Balázs, vice president of the Mária Kopp Institute; and the Polish Ryszard Stocki, Professor of Psychology at SWPS University.
The fifth and final table was entitled: Defending life: testimonies for the future of a Europe faithful to human dignity. It was moderated by Soemia Sibillo of the Italian Movement per la Vita. The director of Africa Life Youth, Richard Sempala; Elisa Magalini from Cav Castiglione; the Polish Weronika Przebierała, from the Colegium Internarium,, Ordo Iuris; Ellen Foell of the American HeartBeat International; the Austrian Barbara Pavelka, from Lebensbewegung; the Portuguese Artur Mesquita Guimarães, from the Renovar Platform; and the Spanish Pablo Velasco, from ViViDores.
At the closing ceremony, the One of Us award was presented.
At the event, the Apostolic Nuncio, Bishop Ivo Scapolo, conveyed this message to all the organizations and organizers of One of Us. You can read the message here.
In this link you can download the program. Baixar programa em português. Descárgarte el programa . Télécharger le programme en français. If you wish, through the following form, and whenever the pandemic situation allows it, you can enroll in it.
