The home of the peoples

Benedict XVI’s apostolic visit to the Czech Republic on September 26-28 was an occasion to address a series of topical issues in the speeches to the youth, to the academic world and to politicians, and in the homilies and messages focused on specifically religious themes regarding Christian faithful. Notably, during the meeting with civil authorities and with the diplomatic corps at the presidential Palace in Prague on September 26 the pope referred to the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain that divided Europe for half a century, confining East European Countries to totalitarian rule. The Pontiff recalled with emphasis “the Velvet revolution” which “restored democracy to this nation”. In the words of Benedict XVI the year 1989 is much more than a point of arrival. It’s a new point of departure. “Two decades after the profound political changes which swept this continent, the process of healing and rebuilding continues, now within the wider context of European unification and an increasingly globalized world”. His Holiness delved into this complex historical period, since Germany, the pope’s homeland, experienced a tragic division in the post-war period, and was blemished by the Berlin Wall and by the “East-West bloc divide”. But now Europe has changed, underlined Benedict XVI. Europe, the pope said, “Is more than a Continent”. “It is a home”. This recovered freedom, in the Czech Republic as across all East European countries, “finds its deepest meaning” in Europe, understood as “a spiritual homeland”. Ratzinger explained: “With full respect for the distinction between the political realm and that of religion – which indeed preserves the freedom of citizens to express religious belief and live accordingly – I wish to underline the irreplaceable role of Christianity for the formation of the conscience of each generation and the promotion of a basic ethical consensus that serves every person who calls this continent, ‘home’!”. Thus, the pope underlined that freedom is fully achieved when it encounters truth, beauty and goodness. “True freedom presupposes the search for truth – for the true good – and hence finds its fulfillment precisely in knowing and doing what is right and just. Truth, in other words, is the guiding norm for freedom, and goodness is freedom’s perfection”. These momentous remarks highlight the reflection on Europe’s future and on the engagements of Europe understood as the “peoples’ home”, as a “community”, capable of overcoming “particular interests” (egoisms, nationalisms…), which performs its commitment for development, peace and justice on a global scale. Pope Benedict XVI stated, “Europe, in fidelity to her Christian roots, has a particular vocation to uphold this transcendent vision in her initiatives to serve the common good of individuals, communities, and nations”. A role that is open to the future and that stems from creative faithfulness to the historical, cultural and spiritual roots of a continent that thereby will no longer be “old” but truly young and free.