Comece: “Europe close to the Pope’s heart” “We know that the well-being of Europe is very close to the Holy Father’s heart. Long before the start of his pontificate, he reflected on the concept and on the reality of Europe and has always taken a stance on its concrete challenges, for example on the development of biotechnologies or Turkey’s membership of the European Union”, says Bishop Joseph Homeyer, president of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community). In his statement issued on behalf of the member bishops of COMECE yesterday, Msgr. Homeyer expresses to Benedict XVI “sincere congratulations for his election as bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, head of the Catholic Church and patriarch of the West”. “A priest and a theologian”, continues Msgr. Homeyer, “profoundly rooted in the faith of the universal Church”, Josef Ratzinger has behind him “a brilliant career as professor of theology, expert at the Second Vatican Council, and then as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”. The Pope, the president of COMECE underlines, “always keeps the harmony between faith and reason at the centre of all his concerns”. “The clarity, sincerity and courage of which he has given proof in expounding the truths sometimes uncomfortable of the faith in discussions and debates – continues Homeyer, who is bishop of Hildesheim in Germany, – have always impressed us greatly”. As a pastor, “he has learned to know the anxieties and needs of believers throughout the world”; we can be sure, therefore, that, “inspired by the Gospel, the Holy Father will continue throughout his Pontificate to devote himself tirelessly to the dignity of each and every person, justice and solidarity”. The Pope, continues Msgr. Homeyer, returning to the question of the Pope’s relation to the old continent, “is particularly concerned by how to proclaim the Christian faith, pursue the common identity, protect and reinforce the dignity of man in Europe”. In the view of the president of COMECE, “Pope Benedict XVI will forcefully commit himself to the indispensable protection of human dignity, human rights, the fundamental role of marriage and the family in European society and respect for the sacred in Europe. His conviction is that Europe needs ‘a new and certainly critical and humble acceptance of itself’ if it wants to survive”. The Pope, concludes Bishop Homeyer, “is conscious more than anything else of the challenges, internal and external” that the Church must meet at this dawn of the 21st century: He will tackle them with his deep faith, and his spiritual strength will lead the Church into the future”.
