A matter of solidarity

The sixth annual meeting of Europe’s religious leaders and the presidents of European institutions took place in Brussels on Monday, July 19 on the invitation of European Commission president José Manuel Barroso. The event was held on the wake of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Combating poverty not the poor. “We must fight poverty, not the poor”, said the president of CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) and archbishop of Budapest cardinal Péter Erdö. “The problem of poverty can be effectively addressed only if we comprehend the underlying anthropological question”, His Eminence pointed out. For instance, “One may approach poverty as the experts in Roman law did in the Middle Ages. Indeed, they believed that the poor were the ones whose assets amounted to less than 50 ducats. Accordingly, those who own less than five thousand euros today should be identified as poor. However, “fundamental human needs cannot be expressed in terms of property rights”. “The quality of life – he added – is marked by other factors such as healthy food, housing, clothing, drinking water, clean air, and a health-friendly environment”. Indeed, “human beings need social relations, contacts with other people, and an accepting and caring community”. On the one hand, said Card. Erdö, “the social services in many countries find it hard to fulfill their tasks” while on the other “their existence shows that European societies care for the indigent population”. Still, he underlined, all this “cannot replace the expression of personal love and care”. For this reason, concluded the CCEE president, the Church is engaged in the field of social work, “not only in institutional form but also by building personal relationships and education”.“Players” in the fight against poverty. “Politicians and churches must pay special attention” to the poor in Europe”, urged Msgr. Adrianus van Luyn, bishop of Rotterdam and President of COMECE (Commission of EU episcopates). “If the fight against poverty relies only on technical or administrative measures it will most probably fail to reach its goals: it confers on the poor the role of ‘objects of welfare’. On the contrary, what is needed is a way of helping them that will allow them to be ‘players’ in the joint struggle with society against poverty and exclusion”. In particular, Msgr. Van Luyn pointed out, “we cannot allow the poorest and the weakest in our society to become the victims of this crisis”, nor can we “burden future generations with the task of cleaning up after our mistakes” especially when it comes to climate change. The prelate called upon European leaders to turn their gaze to Africa: “to the news reports of refugees who have drowned or been captured while they were trying to cross the Mediterranean or the Atlantic to reach Italy, Spain, Malta or the Canary Islands in their cockleshell boats”. Our response “cannot be either to strengthen ‘Fortress Europe’ or to open up all borders”, pointed out Msgr. Van Luyn”. Rather, our solidarity “must be geared toward changing the living conditions of people in their home countries”. “We cannot shun the global commitment” aimed at “achieving the Millennium Development Goals”, although the current goals have been missed. “Disproportionate inequalities. “EU countries are certainly privileged compared to most Countries in other Continents. But it must be said that inequalities are disproportionate and the gap is widening”, noted the under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Flaminia Giovanelli. “The mission of the Catholic Church – she pointed out – is to be close to the poor”, which takes place in a variety of ways and forms, that includes Caritas. Msgr. Stanislav Zvolensky, bishop of Bratislava and president of the Slovakian Bishops’ Conference underlined “the forms of non-material poverty”, such as the “phenomena of marginalization and poverty at relational, moral and spiritual level”, which are present in “developed and rich societies”, and which require “a concrete effort of solidarity and love”. “Concrete proposals” were made during the meeting, said the German representative of the Turkish Islamic Union Bekir Alboga, “which we appreciate and which we would like to endorse as the contribution of Muslims in Europe to overcome indigence and social marginalization”. Slovakian bishop Milos Klátik, representative of the Evangelical Church, highlighted the “serious degree of poverty in Eastern Europe”, where “effectives measures must be taken” at national level and by the EU as a whole.