Message to Europe” “

The Cross of World Youth Day, symbol of the Pope’s meetings with the young, remained for three days in the debating chamber of the German Federal Parliament, the Bundestag in Berlin. Also in this way, said the President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse , German MPs “are publicly supporting Wyd. It is a proof of the fact that Christianity is not dying but still possesses all its vitality”. The chairman of the Commission for youth ministry of the German Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Franz-Josef Bode declared that “when the State draws on its force for good, politics and religion may meet together in a fruitful way” and urged the young to “get involved in society and in politics”. At the same time he asked politicians to take their cue from the young and “let themselves be inspired by a politics of justice, peace and responsibility for the creation”. The Wyd Cross gives rise to sensational experiences: one of these was the three-day visit of the Cross to the German Parliament building and its stop in the room for prayer and meditation of the Bundestag. For the second time in history, the Wyd Cross made its entry into a Parliament building. It was received by the President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Thierse, and welcomed by many MPs, by the spokespersons of the parties and by their respective delegates for religion. The presence of the Wyd Cross in the Bundestag is something more than a symbol: it is a recognition. For in a country in which the cross is schoolrooms has become a matter of controversy, and in which discussion rages about the wearing of Islamic headscarves and the tendency to reduce faith to a private question, the Cross was the recognition within and for German public life of the fact that the Christian symbol is present in the place where the representatives of the people gather: it is impossible to imagine a cross absent from public life. If it is already no longer possible to hang the crucifix in classrooms in some schools, the Cross in the Bundestag is a silent admonishment of the error of this choice. From Berlin it has shown to the whole of Europe that the Christian roots of the continent, the Christian heritage and the commitment of Christians in society and for the common good are desirable in a united Europe. It was also a clear response to all those who did not wish the name of God to be written into the European Constitution. The cross and politics: we are immediately reminded of the public and political debate a few years ago that led to the disappearance of the symbol of the cross from the assembly halls of state schools. This debate emphasized the fact that Germany is no longer a country in which the Christian faith is accepted as a common basis for public or political action. Political life, like society, however, has a need for values, concepts and moral principles if it wants to fulfil its task of guiding a people in a human, peaceful, just and social way. The presence of the Cross in the Bundestag not only recalls this fact, but at the same time proposes an explicit vision, the Gospel of Christ. The Cross makes present the fact that God himself placed himself at the service of man and of his salvation. It is therefore clear that politics must be service in view of the unique dignity of man as son of God. The Cross directs us to God who is close to man in good and in ill. Politics, therefore, is not unbridled power given to us to serve our own interests. Power is limited and entrusted to man to build a “civilization of love and of justice” (John Paul II). The Cross succeeds in speaking to politicians of a solid road to the future that is the road of Christ. Let us hope that many German and European politicians heard this appeal.