FRONT PAGE
We publish the text of the address given (23 March 2007) by Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, at the COMECE Congress marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome.I am delighted to be here among you on so important an occasion as the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, by which solid foundations were laid for the development first of the European Community and then of the existing Union. Anniversaries represent not just celebratory events, but also an occasion to reflect on what still remains to be done in future. We are all conscious that the process of unification begun with farsightedness and courage by the founding fathers, which has experienced moments of uncertainty and difficulty together with moments of strong enthusiasm, now urges a new assumption of responsibility and a renewed common commitment. Europe is called to overcome its original economic vocation and open itself to a wider political and institutional dimension. In this perspective, if the problems relating to the institutional governance of enlargement and to the conservation of social status undoubtedly assume importance, it seems equally necessary to seek shared values, on the level of a cultural and spiritual unity fostered by dialogue and respect for identities. If the process of integration begun is to be really fruitful, it is essential for Europe to recognize its own Christian roots, and give scope to the ethical principles that represent an integral and fundamental part of its spiritual heritage, from which European modernity itself draws its own values. Consciousness of Europe’s Christian roots does not in any way repudiate the needs for a just and healthy secularism – not to be confused with ideological secularism – on the part of the European institutions, but it means affirming in the first place an historical fact that no one can seriously contest, because Christianity belongs in a radical and formative way to the foundations of the European identity. It means drawing our attention and bringing our reason to the fact that the rejection of any reference to the religious roots of Europe, far from being the expression of tolerance – for true tolerance is based on religious freedom and not on the rejection of religions -, is rather the expression of a tendency that wants to relegate religion to an exclusively private and subjective sphere, elevating ethical relativism to ethical dogmatism (in this sense cf. J. Ratzinger, Address on the occasion of the St. Benedict Prize “for the promotion of life and the family in Europe” , Subiaco, 1st April 2005).In the process of the development of the European Union, it seems essential on the one hand to apply with ever greater coherence the principle of subsidiarity and on the other to recognize the peculiar contribution of the Churches and religious communities to the development of the common European home. In particular, the Churches, in sharing the common commitment to such essential values as justice, peace, freedom, solidarity and the protection of the environment, reaffirm that these values cannot be genuinely fulfilled by ignoring the transcendent dimension of the person or failing to respect laws that are inscribed in human nature.The main interest and exclusive end of every intervention of the Catholic Church, as well as her natural ground for dialogue and service, is the promotion and protection of the dignity and ethical centrality of the person, which is expressed in principles that are non-negotiable because they are the expression and content itself of this dignity (Benedict XVI, Address to the participants at the Conference promoted by the EPP , 30 March 2006).From this conception, and from these principles, the following consequences in particular flow:- the protection of human life in all its phases, from conception to natural death, resisting forms of aggression and threats sometimes masked under the appearance of misconceived scientific and social progress: we may think of human cloning, genetic manipulation, abortion and euthanasia;- the recognition and promotion of the family as the fundamental and natural relationship between a man and a woman that opens itself to children, and its defence from frequent attempts to relativize it, by making it legally equivalent to, or on a par with, other forms of union;- the protection of the right of parents to educate their own children;- the fundamental right to religious freedom, not only in its individual but also in its more properly institutional dimension.These are principles that are common to all humanity. As stressed by the Holy Father Benedict XVI, “the action of the Church in promoting them has no confessional character, but is addressed at all persons, irrespective of their religious affiliation. On the contrary, this action is all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, because that constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, a grave injury inflicted on justice itself” (Benedict XVI, Address to the participants at the Conference promoted by the EPP , 30 March 2006).
