Italy: realism and hopeThere is a “conceptual derivation between the insouciant practice of relativism, anti-religious and anti-Christian extremes and society’s cultural and ethical regression”. With these words, on September 22 – in the opening prolusion of the Permanent CEI Council – Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of Italy’s Bishops Conference, described the danger of “Christianophobia” in Europe and appealed to support “religious freedom”, that is “the pillar of the civilization of the rights of man and the guarantee of authentic pluralism and true democracy”. On the background, lies “the near silence of the international community” regarding the “persecutions” of Christians in India and the “ethnic cleansing” in Iraq. His Eminence called on political leaders to enact a “fiscal system based on the family quota”, so as to meet the needs of “single-income families” that are “trying to cope with ongoing price surges”. Cardinal Bagnasco reiterated the need “to defend the identity of the family unit”, while refraining from describing as “families” those “that are not”. “Rather than being a nightmare Country, ours is a Country that cyclically witnesses the spasms of incomplete labor, but where luminous rays and strengths are nonetheless present”, the Cardinal declared. As relates to the political sphere, His Eminence called for “a more federalist administration”, a more efficient “system of justice”, along with the implementation of “school equality”. The question of migration, “one of the most controversial spheres” of Italy’s national life, requires “civil responses” and “solutions that are compatible with our civilization”. “Cooperation agreements with the migrants’ native Countries” ought to be established “also at European level”, in “order to legalize irregular positions” and “positively respond to the need for a gradual and balanced social Integration, and to the requests of “family reunification marked by transparency”. The final part of the prolusion was dedicated to the story of Eluana Englaro, that has been at the centre of an ongoing debate over the value of life. Eluana has been in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for the past 16 years, as the result of a car accident. “What each enlightened conscience demands – the President of Italy’s Bishops’ Conference declared – is not to legitimize nor favor concealed euthanasia practices, especially therapeutic abandonment, while useless forms of therapeutic obstinacy ought to be avoided”. “It is necessary to further enhance the ‘favor vitae’ that characterizes Italian legislation starting from the Constitution”. “In all cases, human life is always sacred and inaccessible”, His Eminence affirmed, while “the irreducible” dignity of the human person “never fails to exist, regardless the circumstances, disabilities or infirmities that may hit an individual in the course of his life”. Switzerland: creation and evolutionThe 2008 Federal Thanksgiving, Penance and Prayer Day was celebrated in Switzerland on September 21. On the occasion, the Swiss Bishops published a pastoral letter called “At the beginning, God created heaven and earth”, in which they insist that “faith in God the Maker is not opposed to the scientific theory of evolution” and beg to speak instead of “mutual complementariness”. “Science and faith together give a much more exhaustive picture of the world than taken separately. Scientists look at the world from a very specific angle, discarding many others: they want to ascertain as accurately as they can the external facts of all that exists”. However, “there are many scientists and technicians who are convinced that an explanation, no matter how accurate, is not enough to really understand our world. If I want to understand someone, knowing the chemical and biological mechanisms of his body is not enough, I have to understand all of him”. According to the Bishops, those who wonder “Why does the world exist? Why the evolution?” do not do it “in a scientific spirit, but as persons”, and for that reason “they cannot be fully satisfied with a scientific explanation”. Hence the amazement “before the immensity of the universe” and the view of a world created by God that is “perfectly compatible with the scientific point of view of a world that has grown over billions of years. It is just because our world is born of God’s Love that we feel it cannot be a static world, one that has been accomplished since the very beginning”. Man has the gift “to scientifically analyse the work of Creation, as well as the responsibility for taking care of and preserving it”. Preserving Creation – ends the letter – raises “a threefold need: putting limits on resource exploitation and consumption, as well as on the development of technical innovations, renouncing anything that may endanger the future of nature and mankind, and working in economy and politics for a lasting improvement of the living conditions of all men and any other creature”.
