The hopes of the world” “

The bishops of the European Union have appealed for “a more united Europe to promote peace” in a declaration on the war in Iraq issued on the conclusion of the plenary assembly of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Union), held in Brussels on 27-28 March. The European bishops (representatives of the Churches of the countries of EU enlargement were also present at the meeting) expressed their “anxiety for the peoples v[in Iraq] who have been suffering for so long due to injustice and now due to war”. The other issues discussed during the assembly included research on human embryos and relations between European and African Churches. A decision was also made to continue to promote initiatives on world “governance”, as a follow up to the document on the question published by COMECE in October 2001: the main emphasis will be on evaluating actions at the world level regarding the eradication of poverty and the safeguard of the environment. The COMECE presidency for the next three years was also elected: Bishop Joseph Homeyer of Hildesheim (Germany) was confirmed as president, Bishop Adrianus van Luyn of Rotterdam (Netherlands) re-elected as vice-president, while Archbishop Hippolyte Simon of Clermont (France) was appointed as the other vice-president. “It’s not a conflict between religions”. “It’s not a conflict between religions – write the bishops of COMECE in a document entitled “Blessed be the peacemakers” – and the name of God should never be invoked to justify recourse to war or the use of violence”. The bishops therefore appeal to Christians, Jews and Muslims to “work together in solidarity, to put an end to the current conflict in this region and promote harmonious relations in our countries”. The bishops praise the commitment made by the European Union to provide humanitarian aid to the Iraqi population: “This commitment in favour of the victims of the war represents – declare the bishops – an important step towards a just settlement in the region”. They also encourage the European Union and the international community “to redouble their efforts to help find a final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. This situation, they affirm, “reinforces our conviction that the world has a need for a system of world government capable of promoting and maintaining peace and the common good, within which the United Nations must have a central role”. Msgr. Giuseppe Merisi, delegate for Italy at COMECE, emphasized the need for the Union to “redouble its efforts to achieve a common foreign and defence policy capable of expressing a united face of Europe”. The European Convention. The bishops of the European Union also hope that the work of the European Convention may lead to a “more united Europe capable of assuming its own responsibilities within a system of this type”. Therefore, they conclude, “good relations, based on reciprocal respect, between the European Union and the USA are essential”. With regard to the work of the Convention, the Churches reaffirmed their support for the principle of a secular State, but at the same time stressed that their proposals reflect “the role of religion at the service of the whole of society and have no intention of being discriminatory towards any community of faith or conviction. “It’s good that the Convention should devote its attention to the interests of the Churches, which are the interests of many”, said Bishop Joseph Homeyer, president of COMECE, during the press conference at the end of the meeting: “An explicit reference to God is necessary for our secularised societies as a means of opposing any form of totalitarianism, in the common conviction that relations between State and Church must remain an essential component of the national identity”. The bishop also made an appeal to the members of the Convention: “in the interest of the future of the Union, Europe must not only direct its affairs along economic and pragmatic lines. Europe needs to return to common values, to traditions and to the will to construct the future”.