Catholic bishops from the European Union marked 30 years since the breaching of the Berlin Wall with tributes to those who worked for peaceful change, as well as warnings against resurgent “ideologies behind the building of walls.”

“The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of the most important events in European history of the last decades, a moment full of emotion,” the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, or COMECE, said in a Nov. 6 statement. “But not all the expectations that the fall of the wall brought forth have been fulfilled.”

The statement said the Berlin Wall had symbolized “the ideological division of Europe and the whole world,” adding that its breaching during mass protests on Nov. 9, 1989, had “opened the way for regaining freedom” after communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.

“Having been separated by a concrete wall for more than 28 years, people — relatives, friends and neighbours — living in the same city were able to meet each other, celebrate and express their joy and hopes. From this moment the world looked different,” said the document, signed by representatives of 26 bishops’ conferences.