Peace cannot ignore the Balkans

We publish the intervention of SIR Europe on the meeting “The mass media as important factor for interreligious and interethnic tolerance, understanding and cooperation in the Balkans”, which was held in Belgrade on 3 November on the initiative of the European Centre for Peace and Development (ECPD) of the University for Peace founded by the United Nations.In this day and age 21st century peace rests on the Balkans. Thus wrote one of our journalists in a recent Sir Europe news report. Speaking here in this city holds a special significance to me. Quoting from a phrase that was dear to John Paul II of venerable memory, this is the place where our Continent breathes with the two lungs of Western and Eastern Europe. It can be said that real and true European unity entails Eu enlargement towards the Balkans. And while Croatia’s EU adhesion is in the pipeline, Serbia’s gains ground every day. These two steps would thus pave the way to Eu enlargement towards other States in the region, enabling Europeans to feel “at home” from the North to the South, as happens in Western-to-Eastern Europe. One feels obliged to recall – firstly to oneself – that this European capital was the last target of bombings, exactly ten years ago. One shall take this sad anniversary as the point of departure in the identification of the role that can be played by the press, notably Christian-inspired press, in order to contribute to a future of peace in Europe. Ten years ago, while Belgrade was being bombed, we succeeded in contacting the then archbishop of Belgrade Msgr. Perko by phone. Indeed, it was by all means a “live” interview, marked by explosions and alarm bells blaring in the background. We would have wanted to conclude our conversation and we pleaded archbishop Perko to seek a safe shelter for himself. But he gave us a lesson in journalism. He reminded us that briefing on the suffering of the Belgradian citizens and reporting on the solidarity lived and mutually shared by the faithful of different religions in that moment would help promote the attainment of peace. We were to cover the claims of all the parties involved in the conflict without rhetoric nor emphases, focusing on the yearning for peace felt across the population. If you write in this way, he told us, it will be as if you were near us, hour after hour, sharing our same feelings, and perceiving the whole picture and the matters at stake. On the basis of this awareness, conveyed to the readership, a conscious peace message will be passed across. It was a lesson in journalism that will be hard to forget!In contemporary Europe, whose Constitution failed to recall Europe’s very own Christian roots, Catholic-inspired media have the duty to remind European faithful and all men and women of good will that the founding values of our civilization are rooted in Christianity. These are the values of solidarity, of reception, of the care for our neighbor regardless of his/her language and cultural tradition.Bearing always in mind – as His Holiness Benedict XVI reminded us – “Truth is the light that gives value and meaning to charity”.In the Old Continent’s multi-faceted and complex reality, that confers a special appeal to Europe, this is a rather committing task. On our part, we seek to fulfill it on a daily basis through our profession, which takes on a special significance since it is conveyed through a relatively recent communication tool, which did however gain a primary role in Europe’s information ambit. I am referring to SIR Europe. The objective of SIR Europe – a habitual working companion to many of you – is to brief on Europe’s Churches, Peoples and Institutions. SIR Europe is a tool that speaks about Europe with the voice of Europeans, marked by the precious cooperation of experts from across the Continent. Indeed it is a unique media reality. SIR Europe does not merely inform on Europe. Rather, it gives Europe a voice. And often voices those experiences that no other information channel ever conveys.