Catholics are there

"Catholics’ long-lasting, increased contribution to the ongoing difficult situation at national and European level is beyond doubt", acknowledged card. Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in the prolusion delivered on the occasion of the permanent Council of Italian Bishops held in Rome on March 26. Cardinal Bagnasco, who also serves as the vice-president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE,) addressed topical national issues, some of which involve European society as a whole. "Our country is suffering, and so is the rest of Europe", His Eminence said. "Unfortunately, the crisis won’t be solved overnight, nor in the short run". This is why "along with our habits, we have to change our way of thinking". Crisis and the family. For the CEI president there has to be "a strong, shared vision, whose point of departure should be the rediscovery of the common good understood as ‘concrete and universal’, a common good which at a certain point we thought had been lost, as it appeared to belong to nobody, mistaken for the mere sum of individual processes". Only a "general change of heart", he said, "will recreate a climate of trust, which today seems to be dispersed and thinned out". Cardinal Bagnasco thus tackled the question of the ongoing, frequent attacks on the family, and pointed out that the family "is not a aggregate of individuals, a subject to be redefined according to trends; it cannot be described as a remnant of a bygone era" since "it is rooted in the very nature of the human person, thus within the very heart of universal history. In the family is to be found the bond of faithful love between a man and a woman that choose each other with the seal of the community, whereby the family, gift and richness of parenthood and of society as a whole, establishes a virtuous relationship, womb of the next generation, based on mutual sharing". "Previous to and beyond the real or supposed rights of adults – His Eminence pointed out – stand the rights of the child: to have a father and a mother, i.e. a family that is not characterised by precarious borders and uncertain times, but rather a definite and permanent realm, where they can learn to have faith in themselves and in others, giving the right names to things, distinguishing good from evil, drawing a balance between rights and duties".Work free Sunday and festivities. The European Sunday Alliance called a Day of mobilization for work-free Sunday (except for essential services), that took place on Sunday March 4. Precisely "on the intrinsic value of Sunday" a day which "isn’t only a day of rest from work, but also a time when the family comes together with a more relaxed pace, a time to carry out leisure activities and – if believers – participate with the Christian community to the liturgy of the Lord" added the CEI president. "Owing to these anthropological elements, Sunday cannot be sacrificed for economic reasons". Conversely, we would loose cohesion: not only the family but also – and consequently – society as a whole". "Sunday rest", underlined Cardinal Bagnasco "doesn’t only bring together the members of the same family. It brings together individuals and families: it is the common life that is expressed and strengthened under the banner of encounter, of rejuvenating rest, of legitimate leisure, of fortifying prayer, of solidarity and mutual sharing".The noblest adventure of human conscience. By describing as "abhorrent" and "monstruous" the "legitimization of infanticide" presented in international scientific publications, the CEI president said that if it is considered possible to kill "a newborn child" it may be considered equally legitimate "also at a later stage" of life. His Eminence cautioned: "Voluntary pregnancy interruption" would thus lead to the "euthanasia" of the newborn. As regards the question of euthanasia His Eminence referred to "another worrying concept" whereby "nutrition and hydration need to be suspended to patients in permanent vegetative state, unless there is evidence of the explicit will of the seriously ill". The concern of the CEI president is mostly due to the fact that apparently such scenario "has ceased to raise public disconcert". His Eminence cautioned: "When the will of individuals takes over knowledge, it violates reality to the point of denying – as is happening now – the evidence that bring humankind together". For the cardinal a sign of hope is "that this yearning for power" magisterially supported by the upholders of the single thought, "is being acknowledged in critical terms also in non confessional environments". For Catholics in particular, "it constitutes yet another reason to take part in the general debate providing their honest contribution", as "the highest adventure of human conscience is at stake".