This Plenary Assembly of Swiss Bishops' Conference, held from 31 August to 2 September in Givisiez (in the canton of Fribourg), focused primarily on the upcoming Synod on the family and on migration. The Swiss Bishops dedicated the first day of their meeting to the preparation of next October's meeting, with the promotion of a day of study on the synod's theme "The Vocation and the Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary World."
Moreover, in the final statement of their meeting—during which Msgr. Charles Morerod, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg was elected president of the Bishops' Conference for the years 2016-2018—, they Bishops also openly invited everyone, both the Church and institutions, to give greater assistance to refugees and migrants in their hardships, often suffering from the breakup of family affections and ties: "In the spirit of the Gospel—write the Bishops—, help the poor and those who are suffering. The increasing poverty, in fact, requires more aid at all levels. Solidarity must go beyond national and European borders, because Europe is not bearing the heaviest burden of the tragedy of these refugees. Only a fraction of the 60 million people who have fled their country reaches Europe. For example, of the 4 million who have left Syria, 3.5 million live in neighboring countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey)."
