The “memory of the oppressions of the past”, and the encouragement to the Lithuanian population to “bring their witness of faith and Christian traditions to the European context” in response “to the challenges of today’s secularised and consumer-minded society”: these were the two main points at the centre of the homily that the Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, gave in recent days during the solemn Mass celebrated in the church of St. Casimir, in Vilnius, with the city’s archbishop Cardinal Audrys J. Backis. Silvestrini took part as the representative of John Paul II in the most significant celebrations of the Jubilee of St. Casimir commemorating the 400th anniversary of the canonical cult of the patron saint and protector of Lithuania. The jubilee year will end on 21 November. The apostolate of “Casimir, passionate and obedient disciple of the Lord” was commemorated by Cardinal Backis, who exhorted the faithful to deepen their own sense of personal responsibility in response to the new opportunities just opened” [by EU enlargement]. During the courtesy visit of Cardinal Silvestrini to Arturas Paulauskas, acting President of the Republic of Lithuania, Paulauskas reaffirmed the country’s support for the insertion of an explicit reference to the continent’s Christian roots in the Preamble of the European Constitution, and stressed “the positive role of the Church in the re-establishment of human values in Lithuania after the years of Soviet occupation”. He also underlined the need to work in partnership with the Church, “especially in the educational and social fields”.
