The idea of Europe in Schuman” “

Robert Schuman, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Maurice Blondel, Josephine Bakhita, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Pope John XXIII are the six “witnesses” being proposed in this year’s Lenten Lectures in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, as part of the cycle of meetings “Holiness in the challenge of history. Portrait of six witnesses for the third millennium”. The first talk on Sunday 9 March will be dedicated to “Robert Schuman, 1886-1963. A friend for Europe”. The speaker will be Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. We give a foretaste of some passages from his lecture. Holiness in politics – “A Christian who followed the path of political commitment, which for the disciples of Christ represents a privileged event for the demanding and passionate exercise of charity at the service of the common good. This path was a path of holiness for Robert Schuman”: that’s how Cardinal Poupard sums up the life and work of Schuman, one of the “fathers of Europe”, alongside Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi. A French deputy imprisoned by the Gestapo in September 1940, then under house arrest in the Palatinate, before going underground up till the Liberation, Schuman left a profound human and spiritual trace on the history of Europe. Poupard cites the words of the Socialist MP André Philip who remembered him as follows: “He will remain in the memories of all those who knew him as the type of the true democrat, imaginative and creative, combative in his gentleness, ever respectful of his fellowmen, faithful to an inner vocation that gave a sense to his life”. A “high” ideal of Europe – His highest ideals found expression in his political speeches. Speaking at the “Week of Catholic Intellectuals” in Paris, Schuman said: “We must realize that Europe must not be limited to a purely economic structure. It also needs to become a safeguard for everything on which the greatness of our Christian civilization is based: dignity of the human person, freedom and responsibility in individual and collective endeavour, the flourishing of all the moral energies of our peoples”. Schuman saw an important and prophetic role for the old continent in world history: “Europe, after the discredit in which it has fallen in various parts of the world, will have to make an enormous effort to resume its role as a disinterested educator, especially of the peoples that are now gaining their freedom. Aid to the underdeveloped countries will be the great challenge for all those who have the privilege of being more developed than others .. With them we have a particular charge of ‘spirit’ to share and this represents a specifically European task ..”. Europe and Christianity: indivisible union – Schuman had a high opinion of European history in the world community. President of the first European Parliament, he declared: “All the countries of Europe have been shaped by Christian civilization. This is the spirit of Europe we must revive … It is up to Europe to show a new way forward, with the acceptance of the various civilizations and cultures in mutual respect. We are not, nor shall we ever be, repudiators of our country, nor forgetful of the duties we owe her. But above and beyond any country we recognize ever more clearly the existence of a common good, superior to the national interest, in which the individual interests of our countries are dissolved and merged”. This demanding task is based – according to Schuman – on the fact that “Christianity has shaped Europe, and the Gospel has left an indelible mark on the identity of European man” – especially because (as Cardinal Poupard stressed) “the European cultural heritage is characterized by the concept of ‘person’: man is understood not as a thing, but as a being who is at once son of God and brother of his fellowmen, at once free and responsible”.