Building together” “

“Europe has a need for the commitment and enthusiasm of Christians”, said John Paul II in the message he sent to the international ecumenical event held in Stuttgart on Saturday 8 May on the theme “Together for Europe”. Over 10,000 participants representing 175 Catholic, Evangelic, Orthodox and Anglican Movements and Communities filled the Hanns Martin Schleyer Sports Centre in the German city. Numerous religious personalities were also present (55 bishops of different churches). So too were politicians (some thirty MEPs). There were choirs, classical ballets, choreographies. The event – simultaneously followed via satellite in over 160 European cities – alternated moments dedicated to the performing arts with exchanges of reflections and experiences. What emerged was a “symphony” of voices (the title of a ballet presented by the company of Liliana Cosa and Marinel Stefanescu), which gave common witness of Christian commitment in the continent in a diversity of styles. “The Christians of many spiritual movements gathered in Stuttgart – writes the Pope in his message – provide confirmation that the Gospel has led them to overcome selfish forms of nationalism and to see Europe as a family of peoples, rich in cultural varieties and historic experiences, and at the same time united by the same destiny. The Europe of the future has a need for this awareness if it is to participate in the great events to which history calls her”. THE FINAL MESSAGE. The Stuttgart ecumenical meeting ended with the reading, in various languages, of a joint message that – it was underlined – “does not wish to be a mere affirmation of intent, but the witness of what is already a reality among us, albeit in incipient form”. “Europe – says the message – has reached a decisive moment for its existence and for its future project: it cannot in fact be limited to a market or a union for the security of its citizens. A breath of God’s love can be felt on all its peoples, urging Europe to be much more”. History – continues the message – has taught “the bitter truth that, without reference to deep values, man is uprooted from his humanity and is shown to be capable of the worst evils”. In the last century they included two world wars, the death camps, the gulags and, in particular, the Shoah. “And now marginalization, injustice, exploitation and the scourge of terrorism are begging for a solution”. The commitment of Christians is aimed at “a reconciled Europe”, in which its peoples are united in a “universal brotherhood” synonymous with the “sharing of goods and resources”, “openness to all those who are the bearers of other cultures and religious traditions; and loving solidarity with the weak and the poor in our cities”. Through this experience of brotherhood – says the message – Europe may itself become a message of peace; an active peace that is built up in daily life, on the basis of forgiveness. A peace that wishes to build bridges between peoples by globalizing solidarity and justice”. UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD IN EUROPE. “Forming in the world, wherever we are, passages of ever more extensive universal brotherhood”. That’s the task that the Christians gathered in Stuttgart assumed. But how? “The tool Jesus gave us to realize this universal brotherhood – explained CHIARA LUBICH, founder of the Focolari Movement – is love: a great love, a new love, different from what we usually experience”. It’s a love that “demands that we love everyone”, “even our enemy and that we pardon him if he should have done us wrong”. “Nor is it a platonic, sentimental love, a love confined to words: it’s a concrete love. It demands that it be put into action”, that we devote ourselves to the “new forms of poverty from which Europe is suffering today. We think of the marginalization of the disabled, the trafficking of women forced into prostitution, the beggars, the girl mothers…. Jesus in each one of them awaits our concrete and active love!”. EUROPE NEEDS CHRIST. “If it wants to have a future – said ULRICH PARZANY, general secretary of the German national association of the YMCA – Europe needs the crucified and risen Jesus”. “I deplore the fact – added Parzany – that God has not even found a place in the preamble of the European Constitution and that, in his place, the value of reason has been raised as a yardstick. If human reason does not listen to the voice of its creator, the holy and merciful God, it will end up by becoming, with its autocratic system and its arrogance, a tool for the destruction of man and human society”. Hearts that are open to the Gospel – said ANDREA RICCARDI of the St. Egidio Community – yearn, on the contrary, for “united Europe and for the spirit to speak of peace to the world. Europe of the spirit has no frontiers and is dedicated to everyone, and especially to those suffering from war, the mother of all poverty”. Maria Chiara Biagioni, Sir correspondent in Stuttgart