“Terrorism, acts of war and violations of human rights, which make the international situation so difficult and dangerous, are a heavy burden on our hearts”, declared John Paul II in greeting his Italian “fellow bishops”, meeting in the Vatican for their 53rd General Assembly (17-21 May). “I continue to join in your prayer said the Holy Father in particular for those who are being held hostage in Iraq, for all those who risk their life and for all those who lose it in the discharge of their duty”. The Iraqi question also provided the central theme of the keynote address by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference: in an Iraq in which “the situation has seriously deteriorated” and “organized forms of revolt” are “stalling the peace process and jeopardizing the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people”, “a clear and evident change [in policy]” is needed said Cardinal Ruini if “the situation is not completely to get out of hand and if a solution is progressively to be found that may allow the recovery and independence of Iraq”, through “due support” for the work of mediation being pursued by the UN special envoy, Lakbar Brahimi. The other main issues addressed during the assembly were the pastoral document on “The missionary face of the parish in a changing world” and the Directory on social communications in the mission of the Church, with the title “Communication and Mission”. The Italian bishops also made an appeal for the European elections on 13 June. The “free vote of European citizens”, exhorted Ruini, must “be aimed at those objectives that may contribute to the genuine well-being of united Europe and of the nations that compose it”, in the first place by pursuing “the effective unity of Europe not only at the political and economic, but also at the cultural and spiritual levels”. European integration should be sought not, he suggested, by “selfish forms of nationalism”, but by considering the nations “as living centres of a cultural richness that deserves to be protected and promoted to the advantage of everyone”. What is essential for “the 25-member” Europe, according to the Italian Church, “is the commitment of the young” and the willingness to “safeguard and cherish the family”: hence the appeal to “Christian politicians in all countries to “act in the awareness of the human richness of their faith”.
