For higher values

The Bishops of Poland, gathered at Jasna Gora towards the end of November for their 342nd Plenary Session, focussed, among other things, on the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and on the conclusions of the Historic Commission and Working Group for Ethical-Legal Evaluation, instituted by the Polish Episcopal Conference, regarding documents of the security organs of Poland with reference to the Bishops. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. “The Polish Episcopate sees favorably the attempts to guarantee through institutional means the process of European unification, by enacting laws deriving above all from values of Christian origin – which constitute, as in the case of the rights of man, the noblest part of the religious, moral, cultural and civil tradition of Europe”. The Bishops, “regretfully point out that unfortunately there is no reference to God in the Preamble to the document” but they say they are “convinced that the reference to the historical heritage of Europe with its ‘spiritual, religious and moral’ character, will permit the values, rights, freedoms and principals of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to be interpreted in the spirit of the ceturies old Christian tradition, which constitutes an important element of European civilization”. The Polish Episcopate is however of the opinion that “reservations if not outright opposition is provoked by certain incomplete and in some cases unacceptable statements, such as the forbidding of cloning human life being limited only to cases of reproductive cloning”. TOO MANY COMPROMISES. Msgr. Tadeusz Pieronek defined as “reasonable” the declarations of the new head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, regarding the reform of the European Treaty. The Polish Prime Minister, who is to be received in audience by Benedict XVI on December 7, stated in his speech to Parliament on November 23 that he intends to sign the Treaty with a derogation, applied also by the United Kingdom, and regarding the Charter of Fundamental Rights. According to msgr. Pieronek, this position takes into account both the work of the preceding government and the Church’s reservations, as expressed with regard to certain articles of the Charter. Mons. Henryk Muszynski, speaking on behalf of the Polish Episcopate, pointed out that the Charter of Fundamental Rights “is the fruit of many compromises and the wording that was chosen does not satisfy any of the parties concerned. The Polish Bishops expressed qualms about the incomplete version of Art. 2 on the righ to life. They said, however, that “it can always be completed with: from the moment of conception to natural death”. FAMILY VALUES. T he other article the Polish Episcopate finds disturbing is the one that guarantees “the right to marry and to create a family” (Art. 9). Msgr. Muszynski pointed out that from this wording “one could deduce a differentiation between the right to marriage and the right to form a family” whereas “in Christian optics, marriage is the beginning of the family and constitutes its integrating and fundamental element”. The Charter, msgr. Muszynski explained, seems to “suggest the possibility of another family, different from the one based on the union of a man and a woman”. For the Polish Bishops, the assertion contained in article 21 of the Charter which “places on the same level the prohibition of discriminating against persons because of their religion, their sex and their sexual preferences”. The Polish Bishops stress the fact that “sex is an element of nature, and placing it on the same level as sexual preferences constitutes an ambiguity”. For the Polish Episcopate however, the Charter “is an important attempt to to seek full unity not only on the organization level but also n the sphere of the fundamental values that unite Europeans”. Msgr. Muszynski, furthermore, considers it to be of importance that the Charter “not only affirms the freedom and the rights of man, but defines as important European values, the principals of subsidiarity and solidarity which are born directly of the social teaching of the Church”. “This permits us to hope that the European Union wishes not only to builed an economic community but also a community of persons based on the highest values”. A CLOSED AFFAIR. During the same session, the Polish Bishops pointed out that they “consider as closed, the questions regarding the organs of security of Communist Poland with reference to the Bishops”. The permanent Council of the Polish Episcopal Conference has decided to publish the results of this inquiry. The conclusions and the relevant documentation will be transmitted to the Holy See. The Bishops note that “in the conclusions of the Working Group for the ethical-legal evaluation, it is stated that the accusations against the Bishops mentioned in the documentation of the Secret Services and with regard to their conscious and voluntary collaboration with these Services, are unfounded since they are void of evidence”.