With a single voice

“A common foreign policy must lead to expand the sense of goodness among Europeans”. This was the conclusion of the analysis drawn by Father Henri Madelin in April’s issue of “Europe infos”, monthly magazine of Comece (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) and Ocipe (Catholic information and intiative Office for Europe) introduced by a note by Stefan Lunte ( old.agensir.it). Examining EU foreign policy as defined in the new Treaty to the light of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, Fr. Madelin remarked, “since its preamble, the Treaty’s new dispositions insist upon the objectives which need to guide the Union’s development internally and externally: peace, citizen protection, solidarity and cohesion”. These are elements “which must repose on a corpus of values”. Here, according to Madelin, “the new Treaty recognizes Europe’s religious, cultural and humanist heritage”. Subsidiarity and the common good. Also “concentrating EU foreign policy in the hands of a single representative (the figure of the High Representative for Foreign Policy and common security introduced by the new Treaty ed.’s note) in certain ways corresponds to “the principles of subsidiarity and quest for the common good proclaimed by Church Magisterium”. “The principle of subsidiarity – he explained – acts in a top-bottom and in a bottom-up manner “when the lower rungs are unable to pursue the quest for a sufficiently-adequate common good at their own level”. According to Father Madelin, “transferring foreign policy responsibilities within the realm of Europe’s yearning to speak with a single voice corresponds to Magisterium documents”, in particular to the Encyclicals “Quadragesimo anno” of Pius IX (1931) and “Pacem in terris” of John XXIII (1963). “Raising oneself at a higher level – the Jesuit concluded – entails the analysis of human limits which previous practices stumbled upon and a new cohesion between the partners” in the conviction that the common good is “the conjugation of goodness in the community and the community of goodness”. Religion at school . “Religious institutions in Europe have lost their public influence and religion is increasingly relegated to the private sphere”. This might lead the Old Continent to lose “the knowledge of its own roots”. For this reason, underlined Michael Kuhn, a few years ago French Culture Minister Jack Lang asked for the reintroduction “of a course in religion enabling future generations to understand the ‘signs’ of their culture”. Following this demand, in 2005 the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation in the field of “education and religion” and activated a “Working group” within the higher school Council. “The difference between the form and the contents of religion courses in Europe’s public schools causes a set of problems”, Kuhn said. “These courses”, he continued, “should help pupils expand the knowledge of their own religion and open up to others”. This doesn’t mean “evangelisation, or replacing parents’ religious education”. A new “framework programme” in this field is being developed at European level.Man at the centre. The modernization of European employment policies is based on an approach combining security and flexibility, the so-called “flexicurity”. “If flexicurity entails support to the long-term unemployed then it’s a positive initiative”, remarked Msgr. Ludwig Schwarz, bishop of Linz. However, he warned, “we should not imagine that it will enable the creation of further employment”. It is necessary to ensure that individuals are not compelled to accept despicable working conditions”.”Europe is simultaneously marked by high unemployment rates and a significant rate of overworking”. Msgr. Schwarz maintains that “it’s not a matter of artificially creating employment to enable people to be occupied. Improved work-distribution should be the target”. Europe therefore, “should ensure that Member States do not weaken their welfare systems since this would bring the lower class into a condition of extreme poverty”. The continent’s future “depends on the realization of this objective and on the national budgets’ equilibrium”, since, “if economic reforms are unable to counter poverty, but rather lead an increasing number of people into accepting precarious working conditions and strip them of all forms of support”, high “social costs” will ensue. This will negatively affect also “production quality and public safety”. “Flexicurity can be beneficial only if man is placed at the centre of all provisions” in line with the Church’s social Magisterium according to which “the capital is the object of work, but the human person is its subject”, Msgr. Schwarz concluded.