Convergence, not confusion” “

“To make the ship weigh anchor, everyone must first be on board”: a simple image to explain the need for a basic agreement between the member and candidate countries of Europe if a “European common home” is to be realised. As part of the programme of the COMECE plenary assembly on 30/31 October, a debate on the theme “The responsibility of Christians for the Europe of the future: John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Europa ” was held at the Eurovillage in Brussels. The speakers included, apart from the President of the Commission of European Bishops Josef Homeyer , Cardinal Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles and Pierre Morel , ambassador of France to the Holy See. Danneels: “Christianity forged Europe”. “The recent apostolic exhortation contains a fundamental word: hope. With this document, the Pope teaches us that the way to build the Europe of the future cannot dispense with Christ and effective evangelical witness by Christians”. So said Cardinal Danneels, who then analysed the text of Ecclesia in Europa: “There are – he said – so many obstacles facing the Church in Europe, not only of a political, but also of a social and religious nature. It is enough to think of the fragmentation of human experience, secularisation, consumerism, and even a certain laziness in interrreligious dialogue. On the other hand, we cannot forget the positive signals: I would cite at least the awareness, already acquired, of the need to unify Europe; the recovery of religious freedom in various corners of the continent; the new spiritual frontiers; a refound participation and a new ‘protagonism’ of women in the life of the Church. The archbishop of Brussels then stressed that what emerges from the Pope’s exhortation is “that Christianity is at the roots of European history and culture. Through Christianity, so many values common to the peoples of Europe have been matured and essential principles that are not only, or not peculiarly, Christian have been shown to be true”. So the hope is that a reference to the continent’s Christian roots will be inserted in the European Constitution. Danneels lastly specified some “spheres in which we need to work in a constructive manner for the good of Europe: labour, solidarity between countries, support for families and social classes most in need, the acceptance and real integration of immigrants”. Morel: “Maximum convergence on the Constitution is needed”. Ambassador Morel intervened on this observation: “the papal document – he said – tackles all the aspects of Europe construction, that concern both the ‘enlargement’ and the ‘deepening’ of the EU, in other words, all those themes that will lead us to have not only a greater but also a more deeply rooted and more solid Union. The Pope, moreover, transmits to us the idea of a Europe as a living reality, that is built thanks to the commitment of all its protagonists”. This “process is faced by some challenges that cannot be shirked, including the necessary convergence, but not confusion, between common institutions and Churches; the development of the ‘two lungs of Europe’, the East and the West; and the dialogue between cultures”. On the insertion of the reference to the “Christian roots” in the constitutional treaty, Morel cited a series of objections, maintaining that they “come not only from France, but from multiple sources”. On this question, added the French ambassador, “either a formulation acceptable to everyone will be reached, or nothing at all will be done”. Also present at the assembly were various senior exponents of the EU, who intervened in their respective spheres of competence. They included Michael Leigh, the Commission’s deputy director general of external relations, Loyola de Palacio, vice-president of the Commission, and Maurizio Melani, permanent representative of Italy in the EU’s policy and security Committee.