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“Even in our time the Church remains a ‘sign of contradiction’. It could not have been the intention of the Council to abolish this contradiction of the Gospel to the dangers and errors of man: it was its intention, instead, to lay aside erroneous or superfluous contradictions in order to present to our world the need for the Gospel in all its greatness and purity”, said Cardinal CAMILLO RUINI in the introductory remarks in his keynote address to the Permanent Council of the Italian Bishops (23-26 January 2006). In his address Cardinal Ruini, president of the Italian episcopate, reflected on the major theme of the relation between “pre-conciliar Church” and “post-conciliar Church”. The question he said has repercussions both within the Christian community, and on ecumenical and interfaith relations. After recalling the initial acts of the pontificate of Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ruini touched on some major questions of national interest at the present time: the preparations for the decennial ecclesial Congress, due to be held in Verona (16-20 October 2006), the defence of the values of life and the family, and the socio-political situation in Italy, marked by ever more heated clashes between the centre-right and centre-left, in the run up to the forthcoming general elections in April. Below we give a résumé of the main questions discussed by the Permanent Episcopal Council. DECENNIAL ECCLESIAL CONGRESS. “Witnesses of the Risen Jesus, hope of the world” is the theme of the 4th national ecclesial Congress, due to be held in Verona (northern Italy) in October this year. It will be attended by over two thousand priests, religious and laity representing the country’s dioceses, associations, movements and cultural organizations. The aim of the meeting as explained by the Italian bishops in its preparatory document is to “call Italian Catholics to bear witness, with a credible lifestyle, to the Risen Christ as the good news able to respond to the deepest hopes and aspirations of man in our time”. Speaking of this major national meeting, Cardinal Ruini recalled that its preparation so far had “widely drawn on the teaching of Benedict XVI, especially in relation to the new generations who will presumably be called to make the Christian message bear fruit in a period characterised by even more far-reaching and accelerated changes”. The themes to be tackled at the congress have long been under discussion in Italy’s dioceses, parishes, and Catholic associations: affective life, celebration and work, human fragility, tradition and communication, citizenship. The previous three decennial congresses were: 1976, Rome, “Evangelization and human promotion”; 1985, Loreto, “Christian reconciliation and the community of man”; 1995, Palermo, “The Gospel of charity for a new society in Italy”. THE CHURCH DOES NOT TAKE SIDES IN POLITICS BUT… The Italian Church does not take sides in politics, but that does not mean it will shirk its “duty” to “remind” electors and “future electors” of what are the “indispensable contents” of the social doctrine of the Church, “founded on the primacy and centrality of the human person”, declared Cardinal Ruini. In view of the forthcoming general elections in Italy, he confirmed a “line of non-involvement, as Church, and hence, as clergy and as church organizations, in any support for a political coalition or party”. This line, explained the cardinal, “is dictated not by indifference or disengagement, but by respect for the legitimate autonomy of politics and, even more fundamentally, by the genuine nature and mission of the Church”. According to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, this attitude of non-alignment is also intended to “help restore serenity to the atmosphere and foster concord on the fundamental values and interests of the nation of which so acute a need is felt today”. FAMILY, LIFE, EUROPE AND THE ENVIRONMENT. The Italian bishops are following with particular attention the debates on and the various stances taken by political and cultural circles on the themes of life and the family. The “anthropological and ethical problems” posed here pointed out Cardinal Ruini are assuming “growing importance also at the political and legislative level”, not least as a result of the “widespread tendency in many countries, and also in Italy, to introduce legislation that does not respond to effective social needs, and risks gravely compromising the value and role of legitimate families founded on marriage and the respect we owe to human life from its conception to its natural end”. At the European level, the cardinal stigmatised the “tendency” of the European Parliament “to approve resolutions that, while they are not binding for individual member states, represent an incentive and a kind of moral pressure to abandon the very principles on which our civilization is founded”. The decisions taken at the meeting also include the introduction of a “Day for the Safeguard and Defence of the Creation”, to be celebrated, in common with other European Churches and communities, on 1st September each year, leaving to the local level the definition of a suitable programme of events throughout the month. This decision is proposed as “a concrete gesture at the ecumenical level” as called for in the “Ecumenical Charter”.
