Athens, 16th January 2003 Ecumenical Cooperation Urged for European Christians A lay group that wants Christianity mentioned in the future European Constitution was advised by the Holy See to cooperate with other religious confessions. The group received that advice when it presented its "Barcelona manifesto" to the Holy See today. The manifesto, approved in Spain last month at the gathering of Christians for Europe, was received by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Vatican secretary of relations with states. Participants at today's meeting included Cardinal Ricard-Maria Carles, archbishop of Barcelona; Josep Miro, president of the E-Cristians Association; Antonio Arcones of the Abat Oliba Foundation; and Alfonso Coronel de Palma, president of the Catholic Association of Propagandists. Following the meeting, Miro revealed that Archbishop Tauran "insisted on the need that we also work with Christian laymen of other confessions. He considers it a basic necessity and a way of constructing Europe, which at the same time is a practical way of exercising the ecumenism of the laity." "He also pointed out to us the need to work especially with European countries where de-Christianisation or militant laicism is very strong," the president of E-Cristians said. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, wrote a letter in support of the work of Christians for Europe. [source: Zenit]