There is also a "purple Europe"” “

A European continental meeting took place over the last few days at Graz, Austria, for members and consultors of the Pontifical Council for Culture and for bishops responsible for the relative pastoral care, from all the countries of Europe. Promoted by the Pont. Council in the Austrian city chosen as the “Cultural Capital of Europe” for 2003, the meeting focused on the challenges facing evangelisation in the present cultural climate, and on the building of a new Europe through the encounter between East and West. More than 60 bishops were present from more than 40 European countries. “A real novelty”, Cardinal Paul Poupard , president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, told SIR, “one that testifies to European prelates’ awareness of the importance and role of the pastoral care of culture. This process is already well underway and must be further encouraged by favouring more intense communication and more effective collaboration among Churches; because by sharing the heritage of values which each country has helped to build, the Europe ‘of the two lungs’ may discover the soul and the shared conscience that makes it truly everyone’s home”. Eminence, encounter between East and West is a process of lights and shadows. What are the strong points and the obstacles? “It is encouraging to note the widespread awareness of a single, though multifaceted, cultural heritage of Europe, accompanied by the growth of a generation of young people who, after so many decades of forced separation between East and West and free from the prejudices of their predecessors, are convinced of the need to create a well-structured community, not only in an economic sense, but also politically, culturally and spiritually. Nonetheless, certain obstacles persist. The secularised and consumerist West is demonised by many citizens of eastern Europe who fear they may suffer a kind of economic ‘colonisation’ and cultural homogenisation. To this must be added the rebirth of nationalism and the misunderstandings between the Christian confessions of the two areas”. What concrete steps can be taken to encourage dialogue between the “two lungs” of Europe? “First of all, by promoting de facto co-operation between European Catholics at all levels. One element of such a perspective, apart from this recent meeting in Graz, is the forthcoming Social Week. Furthermore, there is some strategic advantage in the fraternal assistance that the Catholic universities of western Europe are able to offer eastern Europe in the field of education, because the entire Christian community has need of intellectuals who can make their voices heard on the great questions of our time. The role of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences is also important. The French say that there is a ‘purple Europe’: the ‘real’ Europe of the bishops that may constitute a valid instrument for the authentic growth of the continent”. Do “christianly-inspired cultural projects” exist in the European Churches? Can a common European “project” be considered? “There are no programmes comparable to that of the Italian Church, rather a range of projects exists in Europe, reflecting the diversity and wealth of the cultural circumstances of the individual nations. In the field of universities, for example, I have come across various initiatives that seek to intensify the relationship between faith and culture through dialogue with scientific research and that, more generally, aim to promote a culture inspired and galvanised by the faith. Though having fewer means at their disposal, such initiatives in eastern Europe are equally attentive to cultural changes and equally rich and active. Conversely, I do not feel that a uniform cultural project for all Europe is conceivable or even desirable, it would inevitably end up by being insipid and offending the various national identities.