Assisi: message to Europe” “” “

In the suggestive image of a poem by Clemente Rebora, the steeples of the various Christian churches of Europe do not soar upwards to heaven but bring heaven down to earth. But in this image the profiles of the synagogues, mosques and all the other places of worship are becoming ever more visible. In the foreground is the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, still scarred by the recent earthquake, but as beautiful and solid as ever. On 24 January it registered another kind of tremor: the vibrations of the spirit of individuals and peoples of different religions and Christian confessions. The common invocation to God for peace was powerfully raised, even if prayer is always naked, weak and unarmed. “Praying – said the Pope – does not mean escaping from history and the problems it presents. On the contrary, it means choosing to confront reality not by ourselves but with the strength that comes from on High, the strength of the truth and love whose ultimate source is in God”. Europe was present at Assisi on 24 January, more than ever conscious of her own vocation to peace and her own particular responsibility for building it both inside and outside her own frontiers. Once again, she felt herself called to reflect on, and give a full significance to, those Christian roots that the Pope asks to be returned to their source, so that they do not become desiccated, thus leaving the tree to die. Speaking of Christian roots without referring to their source means not entering into the heart of the message that John Paul II wished to communicate also in Assisi. Rather, it means stopping our thoughts in mid air and not taking them to the transcendent goal that he never tires of indicating: God. At Assisi, the message from the world – represented by the leaders of the various religions and Christian confessions – to a Europe that is struggling to rediscover herself was clear and anticonformist: without God peace is not possible. The Pope’s admonition was explicit: “Once again we, gathered here together, affirm that anyone who uses religion to foment violence contradicts its most authentic and profound inspiration”. We don’t know how far these words will be heeded, or whether they will change the opinion of those who confuse ideology with religion, faith with culture. We don’t know, consequently, whether the much-hailed European identity will be reinforced or not. These judgements, besides, are not for us to make. “To the Church – someone told recently in a meeting of “Liberal” – the promise was made that the gates of hell would not prevail against her, and that she would never wholly betray the Lord, in spite of false steps and deviations. She has not been promised that she will be victorious in the eyes of the world. She has not even been promised that she will shape for ever the continent in which she grew up”. Nonetheless, “if Europe can no longer count on Christians sufficiently courageous and charismatic, and able at least to determine her destiny, we must fear that the inhabitants of this continent will have a hard life” because their humanity will be gravely impoverished. But the other continents too will suffer the same fate. In this perspective the words of Assisi have an added significance and recall the theme of the communication of the faith from one generation to the next: an unrelinquishable and fascinating transmission for the growth of Europe. If this communication is not resumed, on the basis of the prayerful silence of Assisi, and of the consequent rediscovery of the conscience and private and public witness of Christians, the church steeples will only exist for the picture postcards of Europe. The Pope rejects this conclusion. He urges us to hope: even before the meeting in Assisi he had in his mind’s eye the faces of the “old and young, adults and children: a people that never tires of believing in the strength of prayer to achieve peace”.