Europe between laicality and laicism

“God and the State. Europe between laicality and laicism”. It is the topic that will be addressed by the presidents of Bishops’ Conferences in Europe and Bratislava in Slovakia, during the annual CCEE plenary (October 3-6). As customary, the meeting will be introduced by a message of the Holy Father, the first written by Pope Francis to the CCEE assembly. The meeting takes place in Bratislava on the invitation of Msgr. Stanislav Zvolenský, local archbishop, president of the Slovakian bishops’ conference. The capital of Slovakia was chosen because this year is celebrated the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who brought Christianity to this land and to Slavish countries. At the end of the meeting the bishops will meet Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovakian Government, along with several representatives of civil and ecclesial institutions. On October 4, in particular, they will be received by the President of the Republic Ivan Gasparovic.The good of the human person. In the four-day meeting, the presidents of CCEE-member Bishops Conferences will discuss of religion and God as known, respected and acknowledged in the Constitution, in the legal systems and in societies of European Countries. “The Church wants the good of the human person. She wants all that is good to his/her integral development and to that of the society in which he/she lives. We will never stop repeating it”, pointed out Msgr. Duarte da Cunha, CCEE general secretary. He continued: “the ongoing social, economic and cultural transformations undermine all ethical and moral reference to human action inside our societies. They seem to want to replace religion with laicism, which for some has become the religion of a State that wants to be modern and democratic. States or societies that are unable to open up to the Absolute are doomed to plunge into material individualism, where individual desires are the norm: to the detriment of the interest of others and of the community as a whole. Conversely, man carries within him a yearning for the Absolute. A ‘sound laicism’ or ‘positive laicism’ does not fear God and therefore, whilst preserving the living principle of the separation between State and religious bodies, it ensures the presence of religions in the public sphere. In this sense religion and God are not an obstacle, but rather a helping hand in the achievement of everyone’s good and of the community’s good as a whole”. A European survey. To delve into the theme of Europe, ranging between laicality and laicism, CCEE promoted a survey conducted by the Bishops’ Conferences, aimed at establishing which form of laicality is applied in various areas of public life (teaching, administrative life, health policies, political activity) across Europe. Emilia Hrabovec, History professor, presented the results of the research to European bishops, tasked with sharing the conclusions. In Bratislava the leaders of the Catholic Church in Europe will also discuss other contemporary social and spiritual challenges such as the theme of evangelization in a secularised world, conscientious objection, along with the work of the European Union and of the Council of Europe. The meeting will be coordinated by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops (Holy See), cardinal Marc Ouellet, together with the apostolic nuncio in Slovakia, archbishop Mario Giordana. Participants will be joined by the General Secretary of the Symposium of Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) Msgr. William Shomali, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, by His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, and by a representative of the Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan. On Thursday evening in the Church of St. John of Matha (of the Trinitary Fathers) a prayer vigil for Christians and peace in the Holy Land and in the Middle East will be held, presided over by Monsignor Shomali. State-Church dialogue must continue uninterrupted. The theme of laicism was addressed by the presidents of European Bishops’ Conferences already in 2009, at the plenary meeting in Paris. The theme of the meeting was “Church-State relations, twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall”. “The State -underlined cardinal Péter Erdõ, CCEE – must not identify itself with a specific vision of the world. The vision of the world is part and parcel of each and every one of us and of society. This is why we say that without a common ethical ideal the common good cannot be served. To promote the good we should ask ourselves what is good for man. It is therefore useful and necessary” never to interrupt “the States’ dialogue with the Churches”.