Together for Europe

“Today as never before the European countries have a need to promote the sphere of moral education, since its absence or backwardness may cause disastrous consequences, such as the growth of every type of extremism, the decline of the birth rate, pollution of the environment, violence and humiliation of human dignity”. That is one of the central passages of the final message issued at the end of the first “European meeting of Christian culture”, held in Vienna. Promoted jointly, for the first time, by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Department for Foreign Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow on the theme, “Restoring a soul to Europe”, the meeting was chaired by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, considered by many as a possible successor of Patriarch Alexei II, and by Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The participants included leading exponents of European culture. The meeting was organized by the ‘Pro Oriente Foundation’, founded by the then Austrian Cardinal Franz Koenig in 1964 and now chaired by the present Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn. THE FINAL MESSAGE . The meeting ended with an appeal addressed not only “at the faithful of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, at all Christians, and persons of other religious traditions”, but also at European “political and public” leaders. “We are convinced – says the message – of Europe’s impact on the destiny of the world”. But “without the inspiration of the profound moral principles characteristic” not just of the Christian tradition but also of “many secular schools of thought, Europeans will not be able effectively to tackle the challenges of the modern world”. “Only a sound combination of the principles of freedom and moral responsibility – that is the fundamental conviction of the promoters of the Vienna meeting – can help secure the present and future common good of Europe”. “We are open to a common action with those who share this conviction” and who declare their “willingness to enter into dialogue with all those who do not fully share these ideas but are open to discuss them”. “The Christian Churches, like the other great religious traditions of the world, have always been, and shall remain, a resource for educating people in moral responsibility”. “FIELDS OF ACTION” . Europe is an “economic giant and spiritual dwarf, ignorant of its roots, and sometimes unconscious of the richness the Churches can give in building a just and peaceful society, founded on respect for the dignity of every human person, because created in the image and likeness of God”, said Cardinal PAUL POUPARD , in drawing the conclusions of the Vienna meeting. “Our task – said the cardinal – is now to find concrete ways and practical means of translating” the convictions that emerged from the Vienna meeting into specific proposals. Father BERNARD ARDURA , secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture, warned, in his conclusions, of the threats to which these convictions are exposed, notably “the dramatic demographic consequences” that Europe is experiencing today as a result of its moral and cultural crisis: “the rejection of children, forms of cohabitation without future prospects or marriage, homosexual unions, and the inability to share life with another person”. “It is love for the human person – added Father Ardura – that inspires us to transmit the values of our European cultural heritage”. Some prospects for common work arise from these shared convictions: the Churches stressed in Vienna “the need to cooperate, in a more effective manner, within the European institutions” (European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Europe) and the UN agencies based in Paris, Geneva and Vienna. They also emphasized that the “common witness” of the Churches must regard “in particular the fields most affected by the disintegration of the family, bioethics and everything that appeals to the values enshrined in the social doctrine of the Church”. Another field of action is education in Christian values. DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE TWO CHURCHES . In fact, said Metropolitan KIRILL of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, it would be enough to follow the Ten Commandments: “it is now the task of the Churches to re-establish the ethical parameters”. But the cultural action of the Churches and their incisiveness depend on ecumenical progress. “If it is only the Russian Church alone that poses the question about ethics, the world will not listen to us. But if – declared Kirill – all the Churches do so, the Muslims like the Jews, Protestants and Buddhists, the world will listen to what we have to say”. “The time has now come – he added – to gather the stones. We must try to tackle together the problems that beset our relations”. The Metropolitan expressed “hope” in the work of the Orthodox-Catholic workgroup set up in February 2004 on the initiative of Cardinal Walter Kasper and Patriarch Alexei II and given the task of examining the difficulties and problems that exist between the two Churches in Russia.