The Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Community praised Ireland's approval of the Lisbon Treaty, and expects the new accord to secure the right to life for all Europeans.On Friday, Irish voters approved the treaty, which reforms the institutions of the European Union, streamlines decision-making processes and gives the union stronger leadership.
Ireland had rejected the treaty in June 2008.
In a press statement, Bishop Adrianus van Luyn of Rotterdam, Netherlands, president of the episcopal commission, expressed a desire that the "Lisbon Treaty will allow the European institutions to work more efficiently for the sake of human dignity and the common good."
He continued: "We expect that it will provide the Union with new instruments to make its voice better heard and to accomplish its responsibility for worldwide solidarity.
"We expect that, thanks to the guarantees given to Ireland -- the right to life, the protection of family and the right of parents to educate their children -- that these rights will be made more secure in the whole Union.
"We [...] hope that as consequence of the institutionalization of an 'open, transparent and regular' dialogue between the European Union institutions and the Churches brought about by the Lisbon Treaty (Article 17), we will be able to more effectively partner the European Union in all the areas where people are in need of justice and solidarity."
The treaty, which was written after French and Dutch voters rejected the European Union Constitution in 2005, has yet to be ratified by Poland and the Czech Republic.
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