"We are here, at the centre of the Universal Church said mgr. Adrianus van Luyn, president of Comece, at the end of Mass officiated yesterday in Saint Peter’s, the last part of the Congress promoted by Comece in the capital for the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaties of Rome-, not so much a metaphor of the ascending line to transcendence as in the Cathedrals, but rather the descending line of God’s merciful love of His people". According to mgr. van Luyn, the great dome of Saint Peter’s looks like "a tent that gathers and shelters all mankind". Actually, "God, who loves all men without distinction, wishes to gather everyone in His house". Then, mgr. van Luyn invited people not to lose heart: "God is greater than our thoughts and plans; so, a united Europe is not an end in itself, but a means to uniting the whole of mankind in diversity". "With this faith and this hope he concluded , we go back to our local Churches, more willing than ever to work as hard as we can for the reconciliation and union of peoples and nations, embodying the fundamental human values of our West, as well as opening fruitful prospects for the other continents, giving our responsible contribution to the civilisation of love across the world and the building of God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace".
