An interior unity

Since November 2007 Cardinal Reinhard Marx has been Archbishop of Munich and Freising, where Josef Ratzinger was archbishop between 1977 and 1982 and where 1,800,000 baptized out of a population of 3.4 million inhabitants live. The youngest of the current College of Cardinals, an expert on the social doctrine of the Church, he published a book called “Das Kapital. A Christian critique of the reasons of the market” in 2008; an Italian translation was published in 2009. Currently he is also Vice-President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE). In view of the forthcoming plenary assembly of COMECE (Brussels, 6-8 April), Sarah Numico interviewed him on behalf of SIR Europe.How do you imagine Europe and the Europeans in 2030? And what role could our continent have in the world order? “There’s no reasonable alternative to united Europe. Only thus has Europe the chance to exert some influence on the construction of a world order and to contribute European values to the global architecture. That’s why I remain a passionate supporter of Europe. We must, however, also take the USA on board, reminding America that we have a common civilization, imbued with common values! The condition for this, however, is that Europe should aspire to be a confederation of states, which wants to do business with the whole world. The great champion of Europe, Jean Monnet, was right: Europe must be a contribution to a better world. The question at issue is whether we are able to take forward, step by step, the globalization of human rights for everyone. In short, we cannot wish a situation in which in twenty years time China alone would dictate the rules of globalization”. What prospects do you see of helping Europe to overcome the economic and social crisis? What should the role of the Church be in this situation?“It was an error to think that, with the single currency, we would have achieved the goal of European unification. This has been glaringly placed in front of our eyes by the financial crisis and by the sovereign debt crisis in some countries. Europe also needs an interior unity, combined with a real common policy in the economic, fiscal and social fields. So Europe needs a complete political union, as had been conceived in relation to the introduction of the single currency. This has been rapidly forgotten and now we are paying the consequences of this. The reduction of the enormous mountain of debt that is weighing on national economies, for example, remains one of the most urgent tasks for the countries of Europe. Otherwise the duty of living in politically paralyzed states, since crippled by the service of the debt, will weigh on the next generation. As the Church, we cannot give any easy recipe, but we shall continue to raise our voice in the great tradition of the Social Doctrine of the Church in support of a new order inspired by ethical imperatives, i.e. sustained by the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity, justice and the common good. Even if Europe should not become a single state, Europe must in any case be a political unity with a quite special nature”. In recent weeks Northern Africa has been in flames. The causes that unleashed the revolt include not least the poverty of these countries and of the entire continent. Mass emigration has resumed. What effective responses can our continent give to Africa? What welcome can we hold out to the poor of the black continent?“Many people in the Arab world have risen in a surprising manner against their despotic regimes and are pressing with great decision for democracy and a life of freedom and self-determination. This situation merits our profound respect and support. The debate that is now agitating Europe about who should take in refugees, and how many, is striking for its extreme inadequacy, its weakness in comparison with the courage of these people. The states of Europe are now called to assume the task of helping Africa in the long term. The basic conditions for democracy to function are lacking in various countries. They have no well-ordered community, no rule of law to act as the guarantor of human rights, no social market economy and no civil society! Of course these are not questions that can be resolved rapidly and easily, but we ought not to resign ourselves and simply say that democracy is not possible in these countries. I don’t believe that, but the road to democracy will be long”. Towards the end of January, at the symposium organized by the CCEE on the theme of universities, you said that “rarely has there been a terrain so fertile for Christian values in the light of European and global challenges”. Yet an ever deeper crisis of Church membership and an ever more widespread secularization are being registered today. Can you explain what you meant?“Our priority task is to preach the Gospel, and help people to meet Jesus Christ. Germany too is a mission land, exactly like Italy and many other Western countries. This urges us in a new way to make our message heard in all spheres of public life. As regards university education, for example, that means we should explain the fact that faith and reason are mutually dependent. Faith is the light of reason, and the first and most important ‘enlightenment’ that Europe has experienced. And faith gives to reason an ethical horizon; it helps to inform and guide the human conscience. Benedict XVI, in his important social encyclical ‘Caritas in veritate’, rightly urged a new humanistic synthesis. I think a new idea of progress for our society needs to be developed on the basis of Christian values. Economic growth cannot be in any way a sufficient index to measure the progress of mankind”.What’s your opinion about the memorandum “Church 2011: a necessary turn” [signed by 143 theologians in German, Swiss and Austrian universities]? What new turn do you think is really urgent and necessary for the Catholic Church, if she is to continue to preach the Gospel with credibility and respond to the questions of men and women in the 21st century?“The text the professors presented remains superficial and theologically weak. Of course, we need a spiritual dialogue on the path that the Church needs to take and is founded on the terrain of the Catholic faith. As the Church in Germany we want to attempt this way with a process of discussion. I sincerely hope that a spiritual turn be granted to us. It should be founded on prayer and the most important celebration of our faith: Holy Mass. The question of God, the search for the mystery, which is greater than anything we can think and express, must remain central. A Church that speaks of God in too insignificant and modest a way will open no path for modern man. Speaking of God is only possible in an attitude of humility and a spirit of adoration. And it is the Church’s task to bear witness to this God and be at man’s side. A Church that only revolves round itself would not render justice to the Gospel”.