"We cannot fail to call ourselves Christians"” “

“Towards a European constitution?” This is the question that a European conference in Rome proposes to answer. Promoted by the Office for the university pastoral service of the vicariate of Rome, in collaboration with the Federation of the Catholic Universities of Europe, the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community and the national Service for the cultural project of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), the conference is due to open in Rome on 20 June, in the presence of the president of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. In the course of the meeting leading professors from the main European universities will intervene. On 22 June the participants will be received in audience by the Pope. We interviewed one of the delegates, Cesare Mirabelli , professor of ecclesiastical law at the University of Rome – Tor Vergata and former president of the Constitutional Court, who will also have the task of tracing the conference’s conclusions. A conference on the European constitution on the eve of the plenary session of the Convention which will listen to the various expressions of civil society, including the Churches. What’s the message you intend to send out? “It was not planned that this conference should be held on the eve of the plenary session of the Convention for the future of Europe. Of course this coincidence adds a further level of value and significance to our work. However, what we propose to do is primarily to develop a wide-ranging and in-depth reflection on the issues that affect and that challenge the future of Europe, involving scholars from all the countries in the continent. The conference in fact has registered a considerable participation of universities throughout the continent, including those of the countries that still do not form part of the EU but that aspire to membership. It’s a sign of the close attention paid to these issues and the desire for dialogue on them”. What are the main questions that inspire the debate on the future of Europe? “What are the roots of our Europe and of the European peoples? What may unite them around a common project? What is their future? What are the institutions best suited to responding to these aspirations? Is it possible to have a vision of the future that consists merely of the conservation of what already exists? Or is possible to cultivate a more ambitious vision of Europe, especially in view of the entrance of new countries into the Union? We are convinced that we need to pose to ourselves these questions which concern fundamental aspects of European life and which may help define the role that this continent may play in a globalized context”. On 10 January this year, the Pope made an appeal for a greater involvement of the Churches in the process of the reform of Europe. Did his appeal meet with a positive response? “The Churches represent a major factor of unity for Europe that goes beyond the simple recognition of the Christian roots of Europe. There a Crocean affirmation: ‘we cannot fail to call ourselves Christians’ which concerns not only our country but the whole of Europe. And the Churches remain a formidable source of unity and inspiration for social realities, which must be taken into due account”. Europe is riven by profound currents of nationalism and xenophobia which are explicitly characterized as “anti-Europeanist”. What can be done to counter them? “First of all we must distinguish between nationalism and defence of national identity. Europe aims at safeguarding the multiplicity of national identities and unifying them at a higher level. The principle of subsidiarity promotes and integrates various levels: it fosters local autonomies and, at the same time, safeguards nationhood and the state dimension of the political organization. It also promotes the supranational structure guaranteed by the European Union. The decision to proceed with monetary unification is in some sense symbolic but in other aspects insufficient. It’s only the beginning of a process”. Ignazio Ingrao