A vital question

The “silence” of the lack of any reference to the “Christian roots in the Preamble to the European Treaty has been so clamorous as to arouse a huge debate and to move the consciences of numerous citizens. So the work undertaken needs to be deepened, in a constructive spirit and for the genuine good of Europe”, said Monsignor Dominique Mamberti, secretary of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State for relations with States, in a recent address. Msgr. Mamberti was speaking during the conference, “The protection of the right to religious freedom in the current action of the Holy See”, held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome on 10 January. We report some passages from his address specifically relating to religious freedom in the Holy See’s relations with the European Union.A significant Declaration. In his report Msgr. Mamberti recalled the “decisive” contribution given by the Holy See to ensure that the recent Reform Treaty of the EU, signed in Lisbon in December 2007, contains the current article 2.30 (identical to art. 52 in the first part of the preceding European Constitutional Treaty)”. The provision in question refers to the institutional dimension of religious freedom, i.e. the religious freedom that is due to the Churches and to the religious confessions as such. In substance, this freedom comprises the right of each of them to freely organize itself, in conformity with the statute that regulates it. “The article – explained the Secretary – incorporates Declaration no. 11 annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, and attributes to it a normative juridical value. This Declaration affirms that the Union respects and does not prejudice the status that the Churches and the religious communities enjoy in the national legislations of the member states. This guarantee rests on the principle of subsidiarity, cherished by the social doctrine of the Church”. According to Msgr. Mamberti, “the content of Declaration no. 11 is significant because, among other things, it wants to safeguard the concordats and the bilateral accords stipulated by the Holy See. Moreover, it recognizes the fact that, in Europe, the configuration of relations between the State, the Churches and the religious communities is very variegated: it is enough to think of the diversity of situations in Greece, in France, in England or in Poland”. Maintaining an open dialogue. The article commits the EU to “maintaining an open, transparent and regular dialogue with the religious confessions, based on the recognition of their specific identity and contribution. This dialogue is necessary, among other things, to respect the principles of genuine pluralism and to construct a true democracy. To safeguard the opening of the above-cited article to the role of the religious confessions – added the Secretary – it will clearly be important for them to continue to present, also individually, their own positions to the EU institutions. Moreover, their different extent will also have to be taken into consideration, in the same way that account is taken of the differences in size between the countries of the EU, in the voting system in force in the EU institutions”. Conditions for fruitful collaboration. According to Msgr. Mamberti “the said article creates the presuppositions for a fruitful collaboration between the civil and religious community. But this will need to be given concrete form by overcoming various misunderstandings or grave prejudices that have emerged in relation to the failure to refer to the Christian roots in the Preamble of the same Treaty”. “The work undertaken now needs to be deepened, in a constructive spirit and for the genuine good of this continent”. Two attacks. In particular, the action of the Holy See in Europe “aims to counter two grave attacks on religious freedom: the divorce of religion from reason and the separation of religion from public life”. “The question of the truth of religion cannot be eliminated. If we want to live in a responsible way, we cannot evade our obligation to seek the truth, in particular the truth about ourselves and about God, as the ultimate goal of man. The right to religious freedom, therefore, presupposes the duty to seek the truth about God, with a will that is exempt from any form of coercion and with a reason that is immune from prejudices. So religious freedom, too, demands discernment: both between the forms of religion, to identify those that fully respond to each person’s hunger for truth, and within religion itself, with a view to its genuine identity and realization. For each believer and for religion itself, this represents a challenge. In particular, it challenges religions to “provide a meaning” for life in the context of a secularised society, and not to reduce themselves to mere agencies of social solidarity. “A healthy form of secularism involves a distinction being drawn between religion and politics, between Church and State, but without this turning God into a private hypothesis, or of excluding religion and the ecclesial community from public life, precisely by virtue of the social dimension of faith. Inter alia , the criterion of civil equality is not respected if the added onus of arguing etsi Deus non daretur (as if God did not exist) is placed on believers and “if only rationalist and secular arguments, and not the reasons for the existence of God, could be aired in public”.