GERMANY
“The future of Europe is a challenge for Christians”: that’s the slogan of the traditional new year’s festivity organized by the archdiocese of Bamberg and held at Fürth on 20 January. It forms part of the great celebrations to mark the millennium of the diocese. It was attended by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, who devoted his speech to the present situation and future of Europe. “Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Europe has had the opportunity once again to grow in a unified way. Christians must tackle in a determined manner the public debate and spiritual engagement with those who intend to shape the new Europe by excluding the strength and efficacy of Christianity and especially the Churches”, he emphasized. “Christians have insufficient faith, an excessive spiritual laziness, and at times they are even cowardly. They have a need for greater courage to bear witness to their faith and express greater joy in the Gospel”, he observed. “The Church must embrace her own original task: that of announcing the Good News. Through religious education in schools, theology, the transmission of Christian social doctrine and her presence in society, she fosters values that need to be renewed”, he said. “The spiritual and ethical identity of the new Europe must not be ignored, as it has been so far”, warned Lehmann. “The foundations of Christianity must be reinvigorated to clarify the meaning of certain moral conquests: for example, human dignity, in the light of the fact that each individual is made in the image and likeness of God”, he explained. Lehmann also stressed the need for Europe to demonstrate its own responsibilities “for poverty, hunger, debt, injustice and threats to the creation”.
