The way we seek” “

Benedict XVI surprised many, but he also indicated the way to humanity with his first encyclical called “Deus caritas est”: “God is love”. Behind the heavy-handed satires targeted at the founder of a religion we may perhaps find freedom of thought, a modern secular spirit, and a critique of forms of fundamentalism or ignorance, but we cannot find the intelligence of love. And behind the disproportionate reactions of groups – minority groups, I believe – who think they can defend their own religion with violent methods we may perceive anger for the offence caused, the search for identity and rebellion against culture, but certainly not the style of the disciples of a God who is in his essence merciful. Over the darkness of hatred and the pall of mediocre words rises loftily the witness of Father Andrea Santoro, Roman priest, missionary of prayer, who was killed in Turkey on 5 February. He was in that land following in the footsteps of Charles de Foucauld, the martyrs of Algeria and many other Christians who have turned their life into a tool of dialogue and hope. The epoch-making meeting between cultures that radically marks the contemporary world is, on the contrary, increasingly experienced as fear rather than as promise. We need to find where the roads of dialogue and the light of charity are. In Europe too the time has come to undertake a serious examination of conscience. The Pope’s encyclical urges us to ask ourselves what we have done with the love that led the first Christians to place everything in common. They planted the seeds of a new economy. It revolutionised the vision of man. It affirmed man’s uniqueness and inviolable dignity. It curbed destructive ideological impoverishment and indicated the way of brotherhood between all men. The light of God as caritas is what enables us to escape from the temptation of despair. Only if we rediscover that the truth of religion coincides with love, shall we as believers of different religions not squander our energies in tragic clashes nor waste too much time in debating satire or in reacting to it, but seek together ways of solidarity and peace for the world, because that is the will of a God who is charity. This is the way we seek as Churches in Europe, in particular through the Joint committee of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) and the CEC (Conference of European Churches) for relations with Muslims in Europe. The committee proposes among other things to meet the various Muslim communities in order to explore their faith, while respecting their religious identity, reflect on ways of offering a true image of Islam and of Christianity, and discern together the ways of achieving real integration in Europe.