Signs of Hope

“Do not be afraid! The Gospel is not against you, but for you. Be confident! In the Gospel, which is Jesus, you will find the sure and lasting hope to which you aspire. Be certain! The Gospel of hope does not disappoint!” This message of hope given to the Church in Europe by Blessed John Paul II has brought to an end the 41st meeting of the Secretaries General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences who met in Warsaw (Poland) on June 27 through 30. The theme of the meeting promoted by the president of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, CCEE vice-president Monsignor Józef Michalik, and the Secretary General of CEP, Bishop Wojciech Polake, was the new evangelization ten years after the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, during the Year of Faith. A sign of redemption and hope. “In the last decade the world, Europe included, has suffered severe stress and sudden changes, which were not always desired, coherent, logical and credible”, the bishops wrote in the final communiqué released July 1st by CCEE. For the Greek-Catholic Bishop of Oradea (Romania), Msgr. Virgil Bercea, despite the “many social and cultural changes” that have caused disorientation, “the Church is in the world and hence she is called to be a sign of God and therefore a sign of redemption and hope”. Paul H.Dembinski, (Observatory of Finance of Geneva), pointed out that “we must not get stuck at an exclusively financial approach of life that tends to change human relationships into simple transactions and to seek for the effectiveness of finance, instead of the fruitfulness of human relationships and then only look at the present and forget about building the future”. Monsignor Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, secretary of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, underlined that the spiritual crisis “plays a decisive role in the current European situation”. The Church in the forefront. The old continent, “in addition to its economic and spiritual crises, is full of signs of hope” as highlighted in the reports of the secretaries. Monsignor Markus Stock, secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said it is important for the Church  “to have a radical understanding of the new evangelization”, to be “in the forefront in terms of ardour, methods and expression” in presenting the always topical content of her faith. The witness of the martyrs of the twentieth century has been evoked “to indicate that only a personal relationship with Christ, which becomes a cultural factor, is capable of promoting” the evangelizing mission of the Church. A “sign of hope”, for the secretaries gathered in Warsaw, is represented by the mobilization of many citizens around the initiative One of Us, for the protection of the human embryo, supported by the Bishops’ Conferences. The face of Poland. The meeting was also an opportunity “for a deeper knowledge of the Church in Poland”, which is called to face the challenges of the new evangelization, the defense of life and the family, and the growing unemployment rate, “as she prepares to celebrate 1050 years of the Baptism of the Nation of Poland (966-2016)”. The secretaries were informed about the process of reconciliation between Poland and Russia (that led to the signing of a common document by the Patriarch of Moscow, His Holiness Cyril, and the President of CEP, Archbishop Józef Michalik,) and of the the signing, on June 28, of a Joint Declaration paving the way to dialogue, forgiveness and reconciliation between the peoples of Poland and Ukraine. Further “signs of hope” despite difficulties and persecutions, were shared by the Secretary of the Federation of Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conferences Fr. Raymond O ‘Toole, and the Secretary of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land, Fr. Peter Felet. During the meeting the Secretaries of CCEE and COMECE have also presented the activities of the two European bodies of Catholic bishops. The meeting was marked by many moments of prayer. In particular, the prayer vigil for Europe, animated by young Poles, that included the reading of some passages of the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, has been particularly appreciated. The meeting ended on Sunday, June 30, with a Eucharistic celebration presided by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore.