A still “immature” democracy” “

“In the Constitution it is written that the State is non-confessional and the Church free and independent”. The fact is recalled by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk , archbishop of Prague, engaged together with the Protestant and Orthodox Churches in a “unanimous” battle against the law that came into force on 7 January and that de facto limits religious activities in the Czech Republic. What most worries the archbishop is that the law obliges the Churches to register their own organizations in a special register kept in the Ministery for Culture. The ministry may reject applications, impose conditions and ask for further information before proceeding to registration. “The law – explains Cardinal Vlk – limits the freedom of the Churches and already in these first few months since it came into force we ourselves have experienced its negative effects: the ministry has already rejected the registration of some parish Caritas agencies”. This is a serious matter – adds the cardinal – if we consider that “the Caritas associations fulfil a very important role in society because they work on behalf of the people, at the side of the poor, and as such ought to be recognized”. The problem is that in the Czech Republic, in spite of the fact that ten years have passed since the collapse of the Communist regime, “democracy is still immature” and the country has a need for “new men”. The archbishop calls the law “a legacy of the past” that leads some members of the government to regard with “fear” the actions of the Church. What has happened in Prague re-proposes the risk of religions being sidelined: a risk which some have also voiced in the process of European reform. We discussed the matter with Cardinal Miloslav Vlk. How it is possible for a State not to recognize the role of the Churches? “Democracy cannot exist without a spiritual dimension. Over the last few years there are those who thought it was possible to do without it and to reconstruct the country on the basis of economic reforms alone. By spiritual dimension, we mean the sum of spiritual and moral values which ensure the authentic well-being of man and which the State alone is incapable of producing. It is the specific task of the Churches on the other hand to imbue all the spheres of social life with a spiritual dimension understood as respect for the dignity of man, equality before the law, and equality of rights”. Western Europe too is sidelining the religious communities. Why is this happening? “If the Marxist legacy is still very strong in Eastern Europe, Western Europe is under the influence of secularization. The two words are different, but they do have a lot in common. Secularism leads to emphasizing exclusively the human reality – I would say the horizontal dimension – of civil life. This mentality, devoid of any vertical dimension, and degraded to the present and to the material, is the root cause of many ills of our society, such as non respect for the poor, and the uncurbed quest for profit. It is the reason why rights are not respected and the weaker sections of the population are excluded from the production of goods”. Where does the error lie? “Man has forgotten that his life is linked to God. Created in his image and likeness, man has this destiny impressed inside him. To cancel this spirit, means losing our direction, losing our purpose in life, and failing to find happiness. Yet man was created to be happy. But that’s not everything: man was also created to live in communion, to be loved and to be able to love. These are values that secularism has repudiated”. What’s your hope for Europe? “In recent years, thanks to the work of the organizations that bring together the European bishops (COMECE and CCEE), religious communities and Europe have tended to cooperate ever more closely together. It has always been said, however, that to build Europe, she needs to be given a soul. But if Europe is to be given a soul, a project is needed. There have been many projects for the construction of Europe, but so far they have only been economic and political”. Maria Chiara Biagioni