One month after the death of the archbishop of Paris
On 5th August the emeritus archbishop of Paris, card. Jean-Marie Lustiger, defined by BENEDICT XVI “a passionate pastor of the search for God and the announcement of the Gospel”, “a man of faith and dialogue”, “a farsighted intellectual”, died after a long disease. In his telegram to mgrs. André Vingt-Trois, the current archbishop of the French capital, just after the death of his predecessor, the Pope pays tribute to the “great figure of the Church of France” who “succeeded in putting his gifts at the service of the faith to make the Gospel present in all the spheres of social life” and “committed himself unstintingly to promoting more and more fraternal relations between Christians and Jews”. In addition, the Pontiff recalls the zeal of card. Lustiger for the young, the impulse he gave to the development “of the missionary commitment of the faithful” and the renewal of the “training of priests and lay people”. Aaron Lustiger was born in Paris in 1926 of a Jewish family of Polish origin and at the age of 14 he converted to Christianity, taking the double name of Jean and Marie. Two years later he lost his mother, who had been deported and killed in Auschwitz. After gaining his diploma in theology from the Institut Catholique and in arts and philosophy from the Sorbonne, he was ordained priest in 1954; he was appointed bishop of Orléans in 1979 and archbishop of Paris in 1981 (an office he would fill until 2005). In 1983 he was made cardinal and in 1995 he became a member of the Académie Française. He launched Radio Notre-Dame; he founded the diocesan seminary with extremely innovative standards (a remarkable rise in callings was recorded in just a few years); in 1997 he created the World Youth Day which was held in Paris and was attended by one million boys and girls; in 2004 he hosted the second stage (after Vienna 2003) of the international congress for the new evangelisation in the big European capitals which will end, with its fifth and last stage, in Budapest from 16th to 22nd September this year. THE “UNIVERSAL PARISH”. “First and foremost, a believer”, who, “far from letting himself be boxed into the ecclesiastic world, had countless contacts in French society and all over the world: in the academic world and in the economic world, in the political and cultural spheres”. These are the words with which he is recalled by the current archbishop of Paris, mgr. ANDRE’ VINGT-TROIS, who, in speaking of his appointment as member of the Académie Française, highlights: “This strong network of relations was a sort of universal parish, in which he acted as a priest and as a witness of faith”. According to card. JEAN-PIERRE RICARD, archbishop of Bordeaux and president of the French Bishops Conference, it was “his interest in contemporary philosophy and culture, his sense of history, his brilliant intuitions about the evolution of western society” that made him “a voice heeded not just by the Christians but also by all those people who open up to the respect of conscience and question themselves about the future of mankind”. LIKE A PROPHET . “Card. Lustiger – notices the patriarch of Venice, card. ANGELO SCOLA – made it possible, firstly in his diocese but, later on, on a wider ecclesial range, to rediscover the deep dynamism of the reform within the Church. So he succeeded in digging the new out of the old, by recovering, through a correct hermeneutics of the Second Vatican Council, the best tradition of the French Church, of which it might become the older sister again within the universal Church”. “For me, Jean-Marie Lustiger amazingly embodied the tragedy and the beauty of the Jewish roots of Christian faith and life”, reveals the archbishop of Vienna, mgr. CRISTOPH SCHONBORN, who adds: “In this Europe which so badly needs to know what it is and where it comes from, the voice and action of card. Lustiger have been like those of the great prophets of the elect people”. On the “unceasing missionary zeal” of the “most delicate pastor” lingers the archbishop of Westminster, card. CORMAC MURPHY O’ CONNOR, while card. PETER ERDO, archbishop of Budapest and president of Ccee (Council of European Bishops’ Conferences), expresses his gratitude “for the pastoral guidance and paternal friendship he showed him” and in particular “for the initiative of the new evangelisation in the big cities which ends this year” in the Hungarian capital. A “MAGNIFICENT EXAMPLE”. The “special relations of friendship, prayer and care” of card. Lustiger “with the Church of Jerusalem, the population and above all the Catholic community” are recalled by the patriarch of Jerusalem, MICHEL SABBAH. The WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS , in the words of the secretary general Maram Stern, defines the emeritus archbishop of Paris as the “author of the strengthening of the dialogue between Catholics and Jews” and highlights his commitment as a “magnificent example for anyone who wishes to promote mutual understanding and respect between religions and cultures”.
