A gradual process

“There are 11 million Muslims in Europe. This presence has now become a reality that enters into the life of people, families, dioceses and parishes”. That’s why the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) has convened 30 European delegates with responsibility for relations with Muslims and experts on Islam for a meeting in Turin from 31 May to 2 June to review the situation of relations between the Catholic Church and Muslims in Europe. Explaining the purpose of the meeting to journalists, Mgr. Duarte da Cunha, General Secretary of the CCEE, said: “Experiences have been developed within the various Bishops’ Conference, from which difficulties and successes emerge. We want to understand and share what these experiences are, in order to evaluate common approaches”.Legislative framework and islamophobia. The relation between “Church-State and Islam in Europe” and “the growth of islamophobia or fear of Islam within Christian communities and in society today”: these are the two main themes on which the delegates of the Bishops’ Conferences in Europe will exchange views and experiences during their meeting in Turin. They were presented by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Vice-President of the CCEE, in his inaugural address. As for relations between State and Islam in Europe, the Cardinal touched on the difficulties that European States have in establishing an institutional framework: “many States – he said – seek to enter into dialogue with the different Muslim communities and hope to give them an institutional framework. But this effort now has to come to terms with a series of ethnic, national or ideological tensions by which these Muslim communities are riven”. Then there’s the question of the “fear of Islam and Islamophobia”. According to Cardinal Ricard, these feelings of rejection are linked “to a series of complex reasons: international terrorism, the situation of Christian minorities in some Muslim countries, and a greater social visibility of Muslims in Europe”. And he added: “the populism that has been fomented in some European elections is often accompanied by a movement of rejection of Islam which inextricably combines rejection of immigration and rejection of Islam. This attitude may also be encountered in Christian communities”. And this needs “to be carefully analyzed”. Towards peaceful coexistence. The Archbishop of Turin, Mgr. Cesare Nosiglia, urged that attention be deflected “for a moment” “from the ideologies of the movements and parties that, in various European countries, use islamophobia as the reagent of their electoral success” in order to tackle “the difficult task of considering or reconsidering the legislative framework of peaceful coexistence between the religions in the various countries of the EU”. On the one hand, society is called to “establish a good, peaceful and respectful coexistence between cultures without succumbing to an a-historical, anonymous and illusory relativism”; on the other – continued Nosiglia – the political establishment is “called to legislate with a high profile of synthesis between tradition and innovation, memory and acceptance”, and to “refound common rights and duties in a creative way”. Speaking with journalists, Archbishop Nosiglia also touched on a particularly delicate question, that of whether a mosque should be present in a European city. “It’s a question – he said – that can be tackled with serenity, in dialogue, in a spirit of acceptance, overcoming ingenuousness on the one hand and prejudice on the other. I think the authorities can find ways, but with a degree of gradualness, by trying to involve people in these projects”. “I think that religious freedom – said Mgr. Nosiglia – requires that each community should have places of worship adequate to its needs”. “Making these places of worship seemly and hospitable is a fundamental right. The transition to acceptance of a mosque is, I think, a little bit more delicate”. The opportunity of Islam in Europe. In this long and delicate process of integration, “Europe offers a great opportunity for Islam to be able to express its religious identity”, by liberating itself of the “strong political component” that has always characterized it throughout its history. That’s the view of Father Andrea Pacini, expert on Islam and secretary of the Commission for Ecumenism and Dialogue of the Piedmontese Bishops’ Conference. The aim, he said, should be to promote “the prospect of an Islam that is increasingly successful in integrating itself in Europe, by developing within it a theology of inculturation that implies on the one hand fidelity to the fundamental values of Islamic belief, cult and prayer and on the other the capacity to accompany them with forms of behaviour and lifestyles that help to foster dialogue with European society. This is an essential process to enable Islam to open itself up and incorporate itself in Europe from within”. And the Church is following this process with “great interest”.