Speaking at the Centre of Central European Formation for Evangelization (MEBE) in Vienna on 30 March, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna and president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, commented on the imminent enlargement of the EU as an occasion for a “great project of reconciliation between the European peoples”. To this end, according to Schönborn, “Christianity can provide two fundamental principles”: “the fact that man was created in the image and likeness of God and the commandment of love”. Urging that the process of reconciliation be not limited to the future frontiers of the Union, the cardinal pointed out three dangers that threaten the “principle of the construction of the Europe”: “uncurbed liberalism, backward-looking nationalism and religious fanaticism”. The cardinal also warned against the dangers of re-nationalization that he identifies “both in the new member states and in some old members” of the Union. The causes of this phenomenon, according to Schönborn, are many: on the one hand, the disillusion of the citizens of the new member states, who do not consider themselves well received by the rest of the Union, on the other the reluctance to surrender “their hard-won freedom” to the “still unfamiliar mechanism of the Union”. This “re-nationalization” needs, in the cardinal’s view, to be countered with measures able to ensure “maximum information” and “build trust”. Schönborn also expressed concern about “growing religious fanaticism”: “the greater and more rapid the progress made by Christians in ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue”, he declared, “the greater and more permanent will be their contribution to reconciliation between the European peoples”.
