Ferment of freedom

Since the first centuries Christian faith has been a source of rupture in Europe, of which it has also become a root. The same is happening today in secularized societies. Moreover, Christianity continues acting as the "ferment of freedom" from new popular trends and "politically correctness": a root capable of sustaining the continent’s future. This, in short, is the thought of the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schönborn, conveyed in the pages of "Vita e Pensiero" (issue 6/2011) cultural bimonthly published by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. Foreign presence and foundation of Europe. In EU27, "grown to the point of becoming a global power, capable of keeping up the pace with major world powers" in whose political arena "trends that question and are hostile to the Christian roots of Europe are gaining grounds", Christianity, states Cardinal Schönborn, is equally "a foreign presence" and the "foundation" of the Continent. It is its "foundation" as it constitutes its root; it is a "foreign presence" inasmuch as it is apparently "distant" from a "society dominated by reason". However, the prelate cautions, Europe needs this "foreignness". In fact, only by considering "Christianity, a foreign body, as an integrating part of its identity" will our continent continue "playing its role in the framework of world cultures", despite the refusal to acknowledge Christian tradition as an important aspect of European identity in the preamble of the draft EU Constitution. Having retraced the historical parable of Christianity’s bond with Europe in the ancient world, in the Middle Ages and in modern times, the Archbishop of Vienna remarked that the current position of Christianity in the continent is "paradoxical" and "under many aspects we appear to have returned to the dawn" of Christianity. Moreover, in a world like today’s, which is "religiously and culturally pluralistic" and with a "pagan majority", marked by "astrology, abortion, superstition and covetousness" and where "practising Christians are a minority", Card. Schönborn describes the situation of Christianity in Europe "stimulating and with manifold opportunities. Dual citizenship. It is a "foreign body, even though for many it recalls familiar feelings". In Europe, states the archbishop of Vienna, "an increasing number of people who used to live completely secularised lives, found their own direction in self-aware Christian faith" and often, they "describe their trip as a return home". Here, he says, "resides the distinctive, unique force of Christianity: it confers dual citizenship, earthly and celestial". According to the prelate, Christianity calls upon the faithful to live "faithful participation inside society, along with the assumption of responsibility for earthly civitas, without seeking to annul it in order to create who knows which ideal society". A "benevolent" commitment, "based on the presence of a parallel citizenship in civitas Dei" whence ensues the "freedom" of the Christian believer, who is "free from the State since he is never just a citizen of the State". Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Franz Jägerstätter bore witness to this "Christian freedom" in the name of which totalitarian regime were fought. Ferment of freedom. Precisely the "ferment of freedom", for card. Schönborn, "is what Christianity can offer Europe", a freedom "from the needs of the traditional currents, from political correctness" and from the pressure of popular trends. A freedom that draws inspiration from "a deeper", "inexhaustible" source: Christ’s promise "I am always with you until the end of time", which "explains the inexhaustible regenerating power of Christianity. Often declared dead, it experiences resurrection in the power of the resurrected One". "A foreign body and a root: it is the stimulating position of Christianity in secularised Europe", argues the Austrian prelate, according to whom the continent’s often "critical" attitude towards Christianity "should be viewed as positive" instead. Sound disquiet. "Europe – continues His Eminence – could need the sound disquiet of the prophetic voice of the Word, but also Christianity needs Europe to raise questions of criticism to Europe in return. It’s an exchange that is good for Christianity. It awakens it and challenges it. It questions its credibility". And this because, the archbishop reveals, "I believe that deep down Europe yearns for authentic Christianity". "In our hearts – is the conclusion of card. Schönborn -, we Europeans, whether ‘lay’ or faithful, know that these are the foundations that will support Europe in the future: a credible Christianity, faithful to itself, however singular and foreign we may sometimes view it".