ECUMENISM
“I won’t campaign either in favour or against the insertion of the ‘Christian roots’ in the European Constitutional Treaty. Basically it’s not this that really matters. Instead I will campaign to ensure that the churches have a precise role, on a par with that of other associations of European civil society, in contributing to the construction of Europe, as already prescribed by art. 52 of the European Constitution. Relations between the European churches and institutions need to be fostered”, said Pastor Jean-Arnold de Clermont, President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC: an umbrella organization representing 125 churches of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and Old Catholic tradition present in all the countries of Europe). De Clermont was speaking in an interview with the NEV press agency during the international congress on “the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome – Values and perspectives for the Europe of tomorrow”, promoted in Rome by COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) from 23 to 25 March. But how far do European values coincide with so-called “Christian values”? “When we speak of values for Europe, we mustn’t limit ourselves to the family, marriage and respect for life – said de Clermont -. What really matters is placing the human person, and not the market, at the centre of the political project. That means giving priority to respect for human rights: the fight against poverty and exclusion, social justice, and the opening to migrants and asylum-seekers. In particular I think of the conditions of prison inmates, and of the situations of prisons in our societies. These are all fundamental values that do not appear a priori to have anything to do with the economic dimension of the common market. But if the European market is not in primis at the service of building a world that respects these values, then the market itself is emptied of meaning”.
