A step forward

Is the construction of the European “common home” proceeding according to the design of the founding fathers? Is this project still keeping the fascination and, especially, the promises (peace, democracy, development, defence of fundamental rights and liberties) that had been at the origin of the process of integration begun in the aftermath of the Second World War? Replies to these questions differ, obviously, according to the point of view with which we judge the EU today, as also the progress made at the Community level over the last half century. In the same way people view the future of the Europe of the 27 in different ways, confirming euro-enthusiastic positions on the one hand or euro-sceptical attitudes on the other, with a huge range of gradations between these two extreme poles.But what about Christians? On what side are they? Are they on the side of the integrated, sharing and open Europe hoped for by Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, or do they prefer to align themselves with the detractors of the EU? The Community edifice is a political realization: it is regarded by the majority as essential and indispensable in the global era, but undoubtedly “improvable”, from various points of view. Europe isn’t a dogma; it’s a need. Within its institutions a thousand specific problems involving EU citizens are tackled. The EU also tries to operate even beyond the common frontiers: it is enough to cite the questions of energy, migration, climate change, economic recession, security and peace… These policies (laws, projects, budgetary allocations, actions “in the field”) sometimes seem inspired by noble values and absolutely sharable intentions; in other cases they seem to go in the direction of a soulless positivism, a heartless economic-driven management and a relativism without roots. “But such tendencies cannot be dispelled by ignoring them or merely by criticizing them from outside. There’s a need for a critical engagement from within”. The suggestion is made by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, during a reflection he gave in March in relation to the future referendum that Ireland will have to hold to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, which the “emerald isle” had rejected in June 2008. Martin’s message seems one of the most coherent interpretations of Ecclesia in Europa, the magisterial document signed by Karol Wojtyla in 2003 and of the later interventions on the question by the same Pope and by his successor. “Christians ought to affirm their involvement in Europe and make their contribution without shame within the available democratic opportunities”. The Archbishop of Dublin adds: “For her part a really pluralist Europe ought not to feel itself threatened by the Christian message, which is a message about a loving God, a message able to illuminate and enrich the European project”.In the same way John Paul II had affirmed (Ecclesia in Europa, no. 117) the need for the “engagement of believing communities” and “the presence of Christians, properly trained and competent”, to contribute to the shaping of a European order. Archbishop Martin, not ignoring the lack of any reference to the Christian heritage in the Lisbon Treaty, makes the point: “In the current situation the best way of opposing those who would minimise the significance of the Christian contribution to Europe is not to lament or complain about the lack of this reference, but to testify the significance for present-day Europe of those perennial values that have always been at the root of the Christian contribution”. The EU of the future therefore needs Christians to take a step forward, and certainly not a step backward.