front page" "
The fact that Europe has been experiencing a process of reconstruction and the search for a new identity in recent decades is incontestable. Europe today has been reborn from the rubble of two world wars, and from the attempt to heal the very deep divisions between the peoples and cultures that compose it. Irrespective of the institutional and political form of the Union, and its legislative and constitutional texts, it is clear that this historic process of reconciliation has Christian roots, not simply because its founding fathers, its “inventors”, were Christian, but also because Western civilization has this element in its very DNA. Now, however, this will and this capacity that Europe is demonstrating needs to be put into circulation in the world order. The statistics show that in the world’s future, Europe won’t be among the leading countries in terms of number of inhabitants. It will be among the world’s richer countries, but it seems it won’t be able to determine the performance of the markets, because it is poor in research and innovation. It will have to assume a more cohesive institutional and political power and unity if it wants to have a voice at the global level; but its power and ability to determine the trend of world dynamics must be expressed by its capacity to accompany processes of pacification by recognizing the richness of diversity and by creating spaces of dialogue as a method for the peaceful settlement of conflicts. The tragic events and the terrible news of recent days say nothing new, but reveal hidden aspects of violence and hunger for power. The just scandal caused by the unjust deaths and inhuman tortures must not however become the convenient excuse to shirk our responsibilities to support the process of independence, the promotion of a more equitable economic development and the installation of a democratic government in Iraq. That also goes for the tragic situation in the Middle East, for the forgotten conflicts in Africa, and for the growing and ever-spreading poverty in the third and fourth worlds. Europe has a responsibility to exercise in the light of her experience in recent decades, in the search for peace, democracy and development. It would be ingenuous, and in some sense even anti-evangelic, to imagine it were possible to live in a world without divisions. The Christian’s task is not to save history and redeem it from evil: liberation from evil and death will only happen at the end of time. In the here and now of our world and of our time, as at all times, “the Church carries the responsibility of reading the signs of the time and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” ( Gaudium et spes, 4). The Church has the responsibility of taking decisions under the guidance of the Spirit for the highest possible level of good, in the certainty that God is the Lord of history. Nor are witnesses of good lacking, as demonstrated to us by John Paul II, who is celebrating his birthday today, and who is a tireless example of genuinely Christian life, and as demonstrated by the saints and blessed whom he has wished to bring into the light over these years: individuals who have tried to attain a greater good, for themselves and for those around them, individuals of every state, vocation, and origin. It is beyond question that this effort must be continued simultaneously on the level of personal conversion, inter-ecclesial conversion and undoubtedly in the relations between the various Christian denominations and religions. If Europe has made enormous strides in the relation between the Christian confessions, it still has before it the responsibility to find visible forms to express the unity of the Church. If Christians in Europe are to be heard and seen, unity needs to be found on the questions that still divide us. Only thus can we be credible witnesses of a message of reconciliation and peace that the Churches are striving to bring to the world. At this crossroads of our history, we need, without ingenuousness, to give a voice to the culture of good, become mediators of hope and of life: the Life that the Gospel proclaims and that is the message of salvation for all mankind. Amédée Grab Bishop of Chur (Switzerland) – President of the CCEE
