A high horizon for Europe

“It is an important opportunity for MEPs, believers and non-believers alike, to reflect on the content of the encyclical from the perspective of politics, economics and theology; a meeting with a deep symbolical value and ecumenical significance. It is the first of this kind, and I confide that more will follow”. Flaminia Giovanelli, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace attended and commented for SIR Europe the congress on the encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” promoted by the EPP Group in the European Parliament together with the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), held September 14 at the EP seat in Brussels.United in truth. “It’s the first time – Giovannelli said – that a meeting of this kind, (i.e. a reflection on a document bearing a specific spiritual connotation such as Caritas in Veritate, presenting religious and anthropological reflections along with political, social and economic ones), is organized in a prestigious institutional seat such as the European Parliament with the active participation of MEPs. Vice-president Lászlo Tökés opened the conference with EPP Group chairman Joseph Daul and its vice-chairman Othmar Karas, responsible for interreligious dialogue and intercultural activity”. Giovanelli underlines “the ecumenical significance” of the event. “Several EPP Group members are Protestant faithful. The vice-President of the European Parliament Tökés, who is also the bishop of the reformed diocese of Piatra Craiului (Romania), offered an exhaustive reading of the encyclical, confirming the interest the document triggered also among non-Catholics, and reaffirming the need and the importance of unity in truth while preserving diversity, as underlined by Jesuit Father Bartolomeo Sorge (director emeritus of the S. Fedele Cultural Centre in Milan, Italy, ed.’s note)”. Promoting the human person. “Msgr. André Dupuy, apostolic nuncio at the European Union – continues Giovanelli -, pointed out that the realism characterizing the encyclical’s reflections on contemporary tragic problems, made more complex by globalization, is accompanied by a ray of hope, conveyed by the Pope. I also perceived this positive perspective, which identifies the paths leading to the true promotion of the human person that we are called to undertake – said the Undersecretary of the Vatican dicastery -. Man thinks he is self-sufficient, but he must not forget that it is God who created him, Benedict XVI seems to tell us. This reality prompts the hope that change and development can be attained by everyone”. For Giovannelli Caritas in Veritate “triggers interest in all environments, even in environments such as the European Parliament, which are traditionally unaccustomed and scarcely ‘sensitive’ to pontifical documents, that highlight the tragic contradictions of contemporary society”.Politics and charity. “The anthropological aspects – continues Giovannelli – were addressed with particular reference to the family, even though the general context was marked by greater ‘sensitivity’ for social issues, as compared to human dignity and the respect for life from the beginning to its natural termination”. Perhaps “the underlying unity of these themes has not been fully understood, and therefore more work will need to be done”. The Vatican representative dwelled into the new concept “of global responsibility – thus not only by Western societies – for Third World underdevelopment and poverty”, as conveyed by Benedict XVI. Giovanelli delivered a paper on the relationship between migration and development, “a theme that has grown more complex with the phenomenon of globalization, which does have positive potentials however”. “Not only do large numbers of migrants – she explains – take part in the development of the Countries of arrival, they also contribute to the development of their Countries of departure with their remittances, which often constitute their primary source of financing. Thus every initiative aimed at lowering the related expenses is welcome”. Giovanelli to this regard mentions the program “Tres por uno” jointly adopted in Mexico by migrant groups, the federal government, and by the regional and municipal governing bodies to promote remittance flows which are partly reinvested in social works in the communities of departure”. The undersecretary of the Vatican secretary recalls Paul VI’s vision of politics as the highest form of charity, “referred to by PDL Group leader Mario Mauro (Italy)”, and said she hopes the meeting “will be the first of a series of initiatives aimed at ‘opening’ the political dimension of politics, so as to provide “a ‘high’ horizon to the inevitable compromise it implies”.