The 2025 International Congress of Renovabis

From 10 to 12 September 2025, the 29th Renovabis Congress took place in Berlin with the theme: Human dignity: inviolable and vulnerable.
Our Secretary General, Sr. Marjolein, was delighted to participate in the plenary sessions and working groups. There were high-caliber speakers, such as Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Gabriel (Vienna), Oleksandra Matviichuk (Ukrainian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, online), Johann Saathoff (State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation), Prof. Dr Roman Globokar (Slovenia), Prof. Dr Andreas Lob-Hüdepohl (Director of the Biblical Institute, Berlin), Prof. Dr Regina Polak (Vienna), Metropolitan Grigorije Durić (Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Christians in Germany).
In an increasingly polarized society, human dignity is often exploited and called into question. For Christians, however, it remains inalienable, as it is given to every human being as the image of God. The aim was to promote a deeper understanding of human dignity and its protective mechanisms and to reflect on the dilemmas that arise in various social and political contexts. This raised the question of where the greatest challenges for the protection of human dignity lie today and what social and political tensions are emerging in Europe. And what responsibility do politics, the Church, religious communities and society as a whole have to preserve and strengthen it?
After some general considerations, the topic of euthanasia was brought up: “challenges and dilemmas based on the question of assisted suicide”: very moving!
Then there was case study work. Sr. Marjolein was in two working groups: on safeguarding and human trafficking.
While many set off on an excursion to see various examples of best practice in Berlin, our Secretary General joined a group entitled: Violence against women in the context of tradition, poverty and exploitation.
On the last day, we heard testimonies from Bulgaria, Armenia and Ukraine.
At the end, the Director General, Prof. Dr. Thomas Schwartz, read out a list of conclusions, which we supported with applause.
Grateful for the richness of the discussions and encounters, Sr. Marjolein departed again.