Not every path

During his recent journey to Poland (14-15 September), Cardinal TARCISIO BERTONE , Vatican Secretary of State, inaugurated, at the Jagellonian University in Krakow, the session on “The religious factor and the future of Europe”, as part of the 7th International Conference: “The role of the Catholic Church in the process of European integration”. We open this number of SirEurope with two passages from the speech given by Cardinal Bertone, who has now completed his first year of service to the Church as Secretary of State. “I ask myself what ought to be the concrete commitment of Christians in political life in Europe today. Should the Christian be satisfied with enunciating the ideal and affirming general principles, or should he enter into history and tackle it in all its complexity, by promoting every possible realization of evangelical and human values in an organic and coherent framework of freedom and justice? It is beyond doubt that, being a citizen and an integral part of a people and nation, the Christian must be a ‘travelling companion’ of all those who work for the common good. In particular, each layperson is called, under his own responsibility, to build the city of man with the contribution of his professional skills, and through his witness and participation, to help put in place suitable legislation and to give an example of its faithful observance. In the current cultural debate on the construction of the European Union, we need to be clear there are ‘thresholds’ of respect for human dignity – the thresholds of the already mentioned ‘non-negotiable values’ – below which no one can or should descend. If this should happen, a Christian involved in politics, or anyone who places human dignity at the centre of his political and social activity, would be bound not to support any provisions that are detrimental to human dignity, or are given priority over it. In a democratic regime it is right to respect different positions; but adopting or supporting options and decisions that are irreconcilable with human nature is a sign of weakness and violates the dignity itself of the person. Europe is a ‘motherland’ of values and it would be a contradiction in terms to see it now repudiate the rich spiritual legacy that has marked its millenarian history and that has made it able to forge these values. In politics one must often choose the possible, rather than the best road; courage is needed, however, not to pursue every path simply because it is theoretically feasible. The great Pope John Paul II, so closely linked with the city of Krakow, observed that the value of democracy stands or falls with the values it embodies and promotes, and that the basis of these values cannot be formed by provisional and changeable ‘majorities’ of opinion, but only by the recognition of an objective ‘moral law’ which, since it is a ‘natural law’ inscribed in man’s heart, is the normative point of reference for civil law itself”. “So if Europe intends to be secular in a salutary way, it cannot fail to accept the legacy of spirituality and humanism of every religion, while rejecting at the same time whatever in them should conflict with human dignity. How strange appears the attitude defended by some today that demands the visibility of symbols of the practices of minority religions, but tries to abolish and conceal the symbols and practices of Christianity, which is the majority and traditional religion [of Europe]!”.