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COMECE, the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community, issued a statement from its headquarters in Brussels on Monday 10 May, urging Catholics to vote in the forthcoming European elections on 10-13 June. THE VOTE: “MORAL DUTY” FOR ALL CITIZENS. The document, entitled An opportunity to realise our values, underlines once again the European option of the Catholic Church. It says it is the right and duty of all citizens, and hence believers, to vote in the forthcoming elections for the renewal of the Parliament in Strasbourg. But the statement, signed by 20 bishops chaired by the German Josef Homeyer, also points out problems and poses questions about the “quality” and identity of the Europe being constructed. “It is worth pointing out says the statement that the entry of 10 new member states, on 1st May, expresses the overcoming in our continent of the division inherited from the Yalta accords. Both for Eastern and Western Europe, this project of European integration is a response to the wars and totalitarianism that tore Europe apart in the course of its recent history. By voting in this election, each of us will benefit from the privilege of peace and democracy” that is still “denied to millions of people in the world”. COMECE also emphasises the centrality of the role of the European Parliament in the EU’s institutional and political system, alongside the Council and the Commission, as the guarantor of democracy and as the “voice” of the 450 million citizens of the EU. It is therefore in the “interest” and the “moral duty” of citizens to exert an influence on the future composition of the EP. DEFENCE OF LIFE, PREFERENTIAL OPTION FOR THE POOR. “The next European Parliament continue the bishops will tackle issues that are a matter of concern to us all today and that will have an impact on future generations”. Consequently “we encourage Catholics, as also the electors of all confessions, to inform themselves properly about the candidates and the programmes of the political parties and to make their choice on the basis of what they promise to do as MEPs during the next five years”. This is followed by a list of the problems of particular concern to the future of the Union. The bishops begin with the delicate issue of respect for life: “As Christians, we believe that human life is sacred and inviolable, from its conception to natural death. Although it is not the job of the EP to legislate on such questions as abortion and euthanasia, will it the bishops ask exert vigilance over respect for human life in all its phases and guarantee it in terms of the funding of scientific research?”. The bishops also urge the EP to protect the Creation, promote the common good, defend the family, foster education and culture, and devote priority attention to the poor and immigrants. Other recommendations concern peace (by “promoting actions that remove the real causes of conflicts” and working in “conformity with international law”), and honesty in public life. UNITED EUROPE, THE CHURCH IN THE FRONT LINE. The European bishops also hope for the rapid approval of the Constitutional Treaty, a fundamental charter for the construction of united Europe. They pledge “to promote the values established in the Constitution” and, at the same time, revive the proposal made together with the other Churches “in favour of an open and inclusive reference in the preamble of the Constitution to the Christian heritage of Europe”. Msgr. NoËl Treanor, COMECE general secretary, in presenting the document, referred to other issues of major importance for European bishops, including the direct and responsible participation of citizens in the construction of the “common home”, the presence of religious symbols in modern secularised societies (“signs are important, but even more important are the values they represent”, he explained), and the freedom to express one’s own faith in every country. COMECE confirms itself in this statement as a convinced supporter of a Europe of peoples and States. The European bishops recently welcomed the representatives of the Episcopal Conferences of the new member countries, and in March published a long document on solidarity, understood as fundamental principle for realizing the enlargement of the EU to Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. Gianni Borsa, Sir correspondent in Stuttgart
