Christians’ contribution

Last June 15th, Pope Francis received José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, at the Vatican.  According to the official press release, a large part of the conversation focused on the process of European integration and on the lasting economic crisis that is drastically impacting families due to unemployment, especially among youth.  This is accompanied by significant cuts in social spending in some Euro Zone countries, contributing to social instability and desperation among citizens.Both dignitaries also spoke of the positive contribution that the Catholic Church can make in this difficult situation, helping the most vulnerable social strata and promoting moral values to help overcome the social and economic crisis.The pastors of the Church in Europe have continued to state, throughout these years, that in addition to factors related to politics, finance and employment, in Europe’s situation there are also certain meta-economic problems that have not been taken into account when considering how to deal with the economic and social problems, and in general, with the construction of Europe.  This situation is derived from a deficit that is not reflected on the balance sheets nor in the measures of economic solvency used in the markets, but rather it is of a spiritual and “political” nature.  It is not a “technical” issue, or an issue of administrative or economic management, but above all of principles, an issue of meaning and significance.Pope Francis collaborated in this diagnosis, when he recently pointed out to the newly accredited ambassadors to the Holy See that “the financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. In the denial of the primacy of human beings! We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old (cf. Ex 32:15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal. …  Concealed behind this attitude is a rejection of ethics, a rejection of God… God is thought to be unmanageable by these financiers, economists and politicians; God is unmanageable, even dangerous, because he calls man to his full realization and to independence from any kind of slavery. Ethics – naturally, not the ethics of ideology – makes it possible, in my view, to create a balanced social order that is more humane.” (Speech. 5/16/13)The insistence on manifesting the Christian roots of the European identity and the proposals of the values that this implies for the construction of a common home, a united Europe, is not something new, but something that comes from long ago and saw one of its most complete formulations in Blessed John Paul II’s Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, whose 10-year anniversary is at the end of June. In this document, fruit of the II Special Synod Assembly for Europe, something was proposed that continues to be more necessary today than ever: the Gospel of Hope, which beginning with conversion would reactivate the testimony of Christians in the old continent.  This demands, in addition to a clear strengthening and manifestation of the Christian identity, an increased evangelical consciousness that further strengthens the coherent presence of Catholics in all spheres, from personal and familial to the public and social square: “Not only can Christians join with all people of goodwill in working to build this great project, but they are also called to be in some way its heart, revealing the true meaning of the organization of the earthly city.” (n. 116)It is the same message given by Pope Francis last week to a group of French parliamentarians upon pointing out that “The Church wishes to offer its specific contribution in profound issues that takes into account a more complete vision of the individual and his or her destination, of society and its destination.  This contribution is not solely in the area of anthropological or social issues, but also in the areas of politics, economics and culture.” (Speech, 6/15/2012)But this contribution will only be effective, as occurred during the origins of the European Union with Catholic politicians such as Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Robert Schuman, if current prejudices are overcome.  This prejudice is that the participation of individuals in the public square, where policies as well as larger economic and social issues are designed and decided upon, must be “aseptic” or free from any transcendental or religious dimension.Many do not understand, operating with a “dogmatic laicism” that the legitimate autonomy of the temporal order, desired also by Christians, can never mean prescinding from the right moral order and the true demands of human nature.  This is why many are not willing to let Catholics have a coherent faith-based voice in public affairs and in the design of social and cultural life.  These are religious beliefs that, on the other hand, are part of the most significant roots of European history, signs of European identity and have played a role in their civilizing passage through history.  But the blame for this effective marginalization of the Catholic religious role in the construction of Europe is not just in “others”, but it is also in Catholicism’s own ranks: the attitude of many Catholics that, feeling conflicted when faced with these ideological and political hostilities, prefer a religion so private and comfortable that they don’t dare to even impose it on themselves; they have only understood its development or growth as within the internal organization of the Church and not as part of a beneficial transformation of society through the coherent participation in political activity.Today, perhaps more than ever, it is necessary for Christians to live on a personal and societal level with responsible and joyful coherence, the faith on the street, in economic and social life, in politics, in the family and with friends, in the culture and in art, in work and in recreation.  Living out a deep religiosity that is committed to building a better and more just world; to defend and promote, especially in the most questioned issues of the day, the true dignity of men and women, which is only fully visible in the light of Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, as was stated in the Second Vatican Council (cf. GS n.22).Only in this way will true hope be possible, a hope that overcomes the current European pessimism aggravated by the economic crisis, and only in this way will it be possible to build a “common house”, a united Europe.  As was indicated in Ecclesia in Europa, our continent “needs a religious dimension… it must open itself to the workings of God. The hope of building a more just world, a world more worthy of man, cannot prescind from a realization that human effort will be of no avail unless it is accompanied by divine assistance: for ‘unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain’ (Ps 127[126]:1)” (n.116). Only in this way, in Gospel language, will it be possible to build on rock and not on sand (cf. Mt 7:21-29).