United against terrorism” “

“The European Union in response to the challenge of terrorism”: that is the main theme of the plenary assembly of COMECE (Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community) which is due to meet in Brussels on 22 and 23 November. We interviewed Msgr. Attilio Nicora , vice-president of COMECE and delegate of the Italian Episcopal Conference. The plenary assembly of COMECE will have the problem of Europe’s response to the terrorist threat at the top of its agenda. In your view, what is the message that the Churches can address to society at a time when anxiety and fear are spreading? “An invitation to recognize that so-called progress does not necessarily ensure security and that in an ever more ‘globalized’ world the quality of human co-existence will depend on a greater sense of the destiny we share in common and on the commitment of us all to play our own part, placing in question the lifestyles we have given ourselves and the model of development by which we have been inspired. On these conditions, it is possible to unite in the struggle against every form of terrorism and violence: victory isn’t guaranteed in any case – the ‘best of all possible worlds’ will never exist: for the Christian, the ‘eschatological reserve’ is unavoidable! – but we must have faith in being able to build a more secure world order, made stronger and more stable by justice and solidarity inextricably wedded together”. The promotion of dialogue as a weapon for combating the roots of terrorism: is there still scope for dialogue and reciprocal understanding with the Islamic world and in what forms? “Assuming that two are needed to dialogue effectively, it seems to me that personalities and institutions open to such a prospect are not lacking among Moslems. We need to identify these possible interlocutors and support their efforts, distinguishing them from others closed to dialogue or even threatening. And let’s not forget that dialogue can be developed every day also, and perhaps especially, at the grassroots level, in our everyday life through human contacts between individuals, families and local communities. In any case, it seems to me necessary to avoid any form of ingenuousness or the over-facile pursuit of unity at any price. The difficulties remain great: on the level of method, so long as the tradition that interprets and translates the Koran does not have to submit to an Islamic authority that has an invalidating function for all the faithful; at the level of content, so long as the point of coincidence or non coincidence between the civil sphere and the religious sphere (among other things) remains to be clarified; that means courageously tackling the question of religious freedom in the true sense and not being satisfied with a ‘toleration’ that, in practice, often means that the non-Moslem who is tolerated is a second-class citizen”. Meanwhile the European Council at Laeken, called to tackle the issue of the Union’s institutional reform, is drawing near. Also in the aftermath of the white paper on Governance, what recommendations are being made by the episcopates for the reform of the EU’s treaties? “COMECE is in the process of gathering and ordering the contributions specifically requested of the individual Episcopates of the EU countries; we will discuss the matter at our plenary assembly in Brussels. Some positions, however, are already clear: if enlargement is not accompanied by a courageous institutional reform, the Union will risk implosion. We need to move towards a Union that has ever stronger features of genuine ‘political community’, though at the same time with a strong emphasis on the value of ‘national’ and ‘local’ diversities and of vertical and horizontal subsidiarity. The demand for a greater ‘democratization’ of the EU institutions, and a greater participation of European citizens in them, still awaits clear and concrete answers; we cannot ignore a problem of ‘identity’ that demands a debate on the EU’s fundamental values and that cannot ‘a priori’ exclude the Churches and the religious communities”. Fifty days to go until the introduction of the single currency: in the current situation of international crisis, what symbolic value is assumed by this historic stage in the process of European unification? “The start of the circulation of the euro is a source of hope and a reason for strengthened confidence: the process has been long, but 12 countries have agreed to renounce their sovereignty in a field that has always been so important and delicate as that of the currency and this is a sign that it is not impossible to press forward with tenacity and with passion. The tragic events of the last two months urge us to consider especially the fields of common security and defence and that of foreign policy: without courageous developments in these two directions, the European Union risks being neither an authentic cultural and political interlocutor at the world level nor a force of momentum towards a new order founded on the dignity of the human person, on justice and on solidarity”. Ignazio Ingrao