FRONT PAGE
Now that the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome are over, we can continue to reason about the future of Europe with a supplement of ideas, concerns and hopes. At the Congress of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) – held in Rome last week with the aim of placing an original idea of Europe at the centre of attention of public opinion, and offering a contribution of reflections to the institutions represented at the summit in Berlin – the words of Benedict XVI went to the very heart of the meeting’s theme: “Values and perspectives for tomorrow’s Europe”. The Pope posed, with his usual realism, the question on what foundations should a Europe that wishes to be master of humanity both within its own frontiers and in the world be built. Two indissoluble dimensions of Christian realism were re-proposed: consciousness of weaknesses and faith of being able to overcome them. We cannot therefore share the negative reactions to Benedict XVI’s anxious appeal to “non-negotiable principles”, nor the silence over his convinced encouragement of a European Community that is conscious of and feels responsible for its own Christian roots. The Pope pointed out that “non-negotiable” does not mean “non-arguable”. Repeating his appeal for the scope for rationality to be enlarged, he invited Catholics to spell out, in an authentically lay language, the reasons for hope in and commitment to a Europe that is lovingly rooted in history. He encouraged them to be present with their “reasoned faith” in the cultural and political debate that cannot but be at a high level. At the same time he repeated the appeal to the Christian roots of Europe as an appeal to a future that is built on the solid foundation of a living and fruitful memory. With the same solicitude he asked non-Catholics to enlarge the scope for rationality, because everyone needs – a need that is innate in us and forms part of our nature – ever wider horizons, ever higher meanings for his own life and the lives of others. The search for truth is always strong in the heart of man, and the dangers we need to avoid are those of degrading ourselves to low-level cultural profiles and remaining in an eclipse of conscience that risks leaving Europe without light and hence unable to find its way. The young, in participating in the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the European Community, said they were not willing to travel in the dark, and their search for fathers and masters is a signal that must prompt reflection in those who think they can live today and start building tomorrow without lifting their gaze. A debate between those who mainly see the negative aspects in Europe and those who, on the contrary, mainly see its positive aspects is urgently needed. Faced by two different and, in some sense, opposite views, we cannot remain silent about the serious motivations that support both. And it is just from the rigorous but serene debate between these two views that we can begin thinking of the Europe of the next fifty years. So the time has come to make the decisions that Benedict XVI indicates to us with the responsibility of someone who profoundly believes in the European common home and who loves it as place and sign of the hope that does not disappoint and that time cannot destroy.
