EPP Convention
“In the current and challenging international context, Europe is called to a task of epic proportions in favour of neighbouring and more distant peoples. If it wants and can” take on this task, “it will receive a strong political legitimacy both in the present and in the future”. The Patriarch of Venice, Francesco Moraglia, said this this morning as he greeted the participants in the meeting sponsored by the EPP Group for Intercultural Dialogue with Churches and Religious Institutions that is taking place in Sacca (Venice) on the theme of “Building peace and security for Europe and its neighbours”. Patriarch Moraglia underlined that religions today have the “serious responsibility” of “building a culture of encounter and peace” in order to “wipe away all forms of radicalism and fundamentalism”, adding that “such realism and resolve are also required of both the European political community and its Member States, within their respective spheres of competence and action. Emphasis should be put on all this, given the epochal phenomena – beginning with the reality of migrants and refugees – that we are confronted with, since failure to tackle and regulate them with political magnanimity and foresight will result in us being overwhelmed by them”. According to Mgr. Moraglia, “a lack of realism and foresight are unacceptable” in this context. “We are faced with an unprecedented mass phenomenon with no solution in the short term which calls for greater responsibility on the part of those who, at supranational level – in Europe and beyond -, have so far only issued declarations, leaving national communities (particularly Italy) and individual territories alone and without means in managing these increasingly large migration flows”. The bishop went on to add: “realism, rather than indifference, and the ability to plan and make decisions for the long term rather than the short term, are – I believe – the necessary steps to be taken today by those who commit themselves, with determination and good will, to building peace and security in Europe with political foresight also for the development and wellbeing of neighbouring peoples, who look at Europe with hope, although not without some concern”.
