Reflection of
the CCEE Caritas in Veritate Commission
on the current European situation
We publish a reflection of the CCEE Commission Caritas in Veritate in St. Martin's
Day, November 11 2015, at the beginning of the celebrations of the 1,700th
anniversary of his birth. A project of this reflection was presented to the CCEE
Plenary Assembly, in the Holy Land, September 13, 2015.
1. At this historical moment Europe is struggling with itself and with its own
future in a particularly pointed manner. Nevertheless, the serious pressure of
external phenomena must not be allowed to let us forget the greatness of the
internal resources, the difficulties of the path ahead must lead us to draw more
deeply on its own material and spiritual resources.
2. Ideologies today are trying to remove from Europe its values and divide it into
supporters and opponents of models built not on the common history of Europe,
but on theory. Economic and cultural pressure groups have been actively
mobilised in Europe against Europe. The continental institutions are suffering
from the tension between the identities of peoples and the dimension of
bureacracy, which usually responds to abstract parameters and is led by officials
often distant from the real life of Europeans. The co-existence of religions has
been put at risk by a policy of religious indifference and by the attempt to
relocate religions from the public to the private sphere. Just as at other historical
moments of Europe’s past, the religious phenomenon is presented as dangerous,
but to make it such is in fact the politics which rejects using a public rationale
capable of discernment of religions on the basis of universal human values.
Economic concerns are often victim of political and financial concerns. On the
concreteness of the real economy and work is being fought the clash between
two abstracts, that of politics, conditioned by ideology, and that of finance,
conditioned by speculation. The States are suffering and struggling to mediate in
a significant manner between the peoples and the transnational European
institutions.
3. In this picture of difficulties, Europe is conscious of new problems or new
aspects of old problems. It can react with a proof of wise realism, faithful to its
own history, the recovery of moral and spiritual resources which represent its
vocation. There is an on-going weakening of European cohesion, both at the level
of encounter between peoples and between nations. Forms of particularistic
reaction are arising, which it is too easy to liberate oneself from by calling them
“populist” but which, even if manifested in inappropriate forms, denounce a
widespread incomprehension. New divisions between States are arising:
between strong and weak States, between States aligned along a dominant
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culture and non-aligned States, which not for this can be considered second
class. The search for common values does not mean imposing on everyone the
values of some, it means sharing true and valid values for everyone. Alliances are
being re-opened which it was thought had been defintively overcome, fears and
tensions which had characterised other eras are re-emerging. The arduous
situation in Greece has posed problems much wider than the small country and
even the Union itself. There is serious concern about the situation of open
conflict in Ukraine, a land historically very significant for the European continent
and its civilisation between East and West.
4. Europe must ask itself profound, searching questions on all these issues.
Sometimes the practice of the European institutions is seen by the peoples as
arrogant. Therefore the processes of questioning seems to have taken a step
backwards. The peoples fear being trapped in a context which distorts their
historical and cultural characteristics. They must be reassured with real
guarantees.
5. Peace must be a primary objective for Europe, but our continent must be more
than realistic about this. Peace is the tranquillity of order, it is therefore a global
and not just a military need. A secure Europe which in turn is a source of security
is an ordered Europe, where the various social institutions are justly given first
place. Not to respect life and the family also means creating conflict and
weakening peace. The same is true for the contempt or even persecution of
religion, above all the Christian religion, or an education of young people in
moral anarchy. If justice is not guaranteed and if judicial power tends to replace
not only the other two powers but also the ethos of the peoples, pretending to
restructure it, conflict becomes a path with no way out.
6. In tackling new problems and new aspects of old problems, the European
continent must be an active and not passive subject in all these areas. Migration
must be prudently and responsibly governed and not suffered. “The complexity
of this phenomena, with its inevitable differentiations, demands great attention
from the individual States, whose situations are radically different, with the aim
of responding promptly to the needs of immediate assistance and welcome of
people desperate due to war, persecution, and misery. Through the necessary
institutions, the States must maintain public order, guarantee justice for all and
offer generous willingness to those truly in need, with a view to respectful and
collaborative integration. The commitment of the Churches of Europe is great,
and, following the indications of the Holy Father Pope Francis, they are
collaborating with the States, who are primarily responsible for the social and
economic life of their peoples. The many experiences already underway
encourage the pursuit and intensification of every effort.” (Message of CCEE
Plenary Assembly, 16 September 2015)
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In the management of migration, which today assumes the aspect of
humanitarian emergencies, Europe must not renounce its own legal civilisation
and the fundamental values of its own culture which it has assimilated from the
tradition of natural moral law which here by us has been enriched and
transmitted by the Christian tradition and which is also present in other cultures
and religions. Nor can it exempt itself from a common commitment to tackle this
emergency not just in the so-called welcome of refugees but also and above all by
a foreign policy of effective contrast to the depraved interests of those behind
this phenomenon. But Europe cannot do everything alone! “Given the complexity
of the situations and the breadth of the humanitarian tragedies, we hope that the
UN will take the situation into decisive consideration and reach effective
solutions not just with respect to the first welcome but also to the migrants’
countries of origin, taking appropriate measures to stop the violence and build
the peace and development of all peoples. Furthermore, peace in the Middle East
and in North Africa is vital for Europe, just as it is crucial that a true peace
throughout the continent itself be reached as soon as possible, starting from
Ukraine” (Ibidem).
7. Europe cannot adequately tackle such important processes from a solitary
position of self-rejection. On the contrary, it must show its own face, the face of a
continent which has known in its history truths about men and women and their
co-existence and is ready to expend this richness with responsibility. The
concrete ecological problem must be tackled without reductive deviations, in the
spirit of an “integral ecology” which includes within itself both the
environmental and the human. The live problem of employment must also be
tackled, in a true European space, re-vitalising with a spirit of pragmatism old
and new professionalisms, liberating energies from the institutionalisation of
wastefulness, from the revenues of a position and from an excessive fiscal
pressure in the face of generalist welfare systems and not always adequate
benefits.
8. A similar spirit of wise pragmatism, unafraid of showing its own typically
European face, is also true for dialogue between religions and, in particular, with
Islam. Human rights, peace, a concrete common good which is not just material
but also spiritual, the family, the equal dignity of human beings, the correct
distinction between politics and religion, are European values and human values
at the same time. Europe must defend them while promoting a true meeting
between the religions about them .
9. The Catholic Church which is present in the different European nations knows
well that its first duty is the proclamation of Christ to the Europeans, because the
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first factor of development is the Gospel. It knows how to do it in friendship with
everyone, but with its own unique appearance, founded on the truth of the Lord
Jesus Christ. From the welcoming of the proclamation of Christ arise new
relationships, new ways of seeing things, new incentives of solidarity and civic
friendship, a new conviction to fight for people’s human and transcendent good.
The CCEE Commission is chaired by His Grace Mgr Giampaolo Crepaldi, Archbishop of Trieste
(Italy) and is divided into three sections: Migration, chaired by His Eminence Cardinal Josip
Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb (Croatia); Safeguarding Creation, chaired by His Grace Mgr
André-Joseph Léonard, Archbishop Emeritus of Malines-Bruxelles (Belgium); Social issues,
chaired by His Grace Mgr Giampaolo Crepaldi, Archbishop of Trieste (Italy).
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