05/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - Bishop Josef Homeyer, President of the Commission of the Bishops' Conference of the European Community (COMECE), wrote on Thursday to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, welcoming the reference to religious heritage in the Praesidium of the European Convention's proposed preamble, but also expressed his astonishment that this preamble, "which contains a list of important elements in European civilisation", does not mention the contribution of Christianity. "Without wishing to detract from other contributions, no other religion or philosophical movement has inspired Europe as much as Christianity", wrote the Bishop of Hildesheim. He reiterated the COMECE proposal on a reference to God, noting: "a reminder of the limits of human power (...) would be an important sign that public power is not absolute. The Union would thus be recognising that its citizens are free to invoke God, be they Christians, Jews or Muslims (...) the Polish and German Constitutions clearly demonstrate that such a reference need not be discriminatory".