The task before us

“The 40th anniversary of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) is a salutary occasion to renew consciousness of the intuition of a reality that has helped to build our Continent”, declared Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. Cardinal Bagnasco was speaking on 25 March in a reflection offered to mark the 40th anniversary of the approval of the CCEE’s first executive statutes (www.ccee.ch). Mgr. Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka and President of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has sent a message of good wishes to mark the occasion, in which he calls the CCEE a “work of the Holy Spirit for the Church and for humanity in our time”. “Only God – added the bishop – knows how much precious fruit has been produced by the mutual counsels, regular consultations and ever closer links between the Bishops’ Conferences at the continental level, as also at the intercontinental level, both for the Church and for our continental society”. A message of good wishes also came from the Most Rev. Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, Archbishop of Trujillo and President of the Bishops’ Conference of Peru. We publish the text of Cardinal Bagnasco’s reflection below.The 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) is an excellent opportunity to renew our awareness of the intuition of a reality which played such an important part in the building of our Continent.The intuition came to those who, immediately after the Second Vatican Council, thought it appropriate to re-propose, on a continental scale, a catholic bishops’ collegiality experience that would accompany the European integration process, which could not be reduced to a mere political and economic entity. The institution which was then established, is today a reality encompassing 33 nations, which has made it possible not only cooperation among bishops, but the gradual re-launching of a new evangelization. Following the Magisterium of our Holy Father Benedict XVI, who never gets tired of calling Europe back to its Christian roots and to its historical mission, which should also represent a cultural beacon, the Churches in Europe contribute through their faith and witnesses to the presence of Christian humanism. In our times, marked by relativism on a theoretical level, and by consumerism on a practical one, Christian faith is challenged to justify its plausibility and ability to answer people’s deeper questions.My wish is that CCEE may continue along the pathway that it has followed over the past few years to delve ever deeper into the relationship between evangelization and culture in our times, and to demonstrate that Christianity is not only a gift to preserve, but also the task awaiting us to reinterpret the world we live in, beginning with human beings “created in the image and likeness of God”. In this way, full light will be shed on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light” (Gaudium et spes, nr. 22). We ought to read in this context the declaration of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences which was issued at the conclusion of the last meeting of our presidents, in Croatia: “We are convinced that the human conscience can open itself to the values that can be found in nature as created and redeemed by God through Jesus Christ. The Church, being aware of her mission to serve humankind and society by proclaiming Christ our Saviour, cannot forget about the anthropological and social implications which have their origins in Him. For this reason, the Church relentlessly affirms the fundamental values of life, marriage between a man and a woman, the family, and religious and educational freedom: upon these values, any other value having a social and political relevance is established and guaranteed” (CCEE Plenary Assembly, Zagreb, Oct 3, 2010). Without a true respect of these primary values, which are at the basis of the ethics of life, it would be an illusion to think of a social ethics which, while having human promotion as its ultimate goal, eventually forsakes human beings in the very moment of their greatest fragility. Any other value, in fact, which is necessary to the good of persons and society – work, health issues, housing, social inclusion, security, environment and peace – blossoms and draws its sap from the former. On the contrary, when detached from the act of welcoming at the root of life – we might say of “naked life” – these values wither and lose their meaning.