Switzerland’s voice

EU27 citizens are called to cast their vote on June 5 to 7 for the renewal of the European Parliament in Brussels. How does this event involve the Catholic Church in Switzerland, which is not a Member Country? Recent findings by the Statistics Federal Bureau reveal that over one million EU citizens live in Switzerland, most of whom are entitled to vote, while many of them come from Catholic-majority Countries. It ensues that most of them are Catholic faithful. There are German and French-speaking Catholics who are members of their Missions in Switzerland or of their local parishes. They come from Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, etc. As a result of the human tragedy and the material destruction caused by two world wars, in the 1940s the need to ensure long-lasting peace became increasingly stronger. Robert Schuman in France, Alcide De Gasperi in Italy and Konrad Adenauer in Germany put their efforts, as Catholics, in the accomplishment of peace, and gave a significant contribution to the establishment of the European Community.Moreover, at the end of the 1980s Europe witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain that had divided the Continent for a long time. On the basis of this development of peace that marked the past decades, in one of its latest statements COMECE (the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) described the European Union as a “project of hope”, without denying that it still has to cope with a number of difficulties. In order to ensure that this “European project” engenders hope vis à vis contemporary challenges, policies should respect the dignity of man and the common good, as envisaged by Catholic Social Doctrine. European Catholic men and women, Christians belonging to other religious denominations, and all the men of good will, must ensure their contribution to the preservation of peace and the common good through political participation. Challenges linked to ever-extending migration demand global solutions, which can be reached only with the close cooperation of States in Europe. Thus, although Switzerland is not a Member Country of the European Union, its wellbeing strongly depends on the wellbeing of Europe. It is to be hoped that the large number of European migrants living in Switzerland will contribute to the wellbeing of the local population by acting as the “voice of Switzerland”, and fostering the emergence of policies based on Christian values across Europe.