ELEVENTH GENERAL CONGREGATION

VATICAN CITY, OCT 8, 1999 (VIS) - Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, president delegate on duty, at 9 this morning called to order the eleventh congregation of the Synod for Europe, in the presence of Pope John Paul and 166 synod fathers. The meeting closed at 12:35 p.m.

Following are excerpts from the speech given in Latin by Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano:

"In No. 83 of 'Instrumentum Laboris' we are invited to reflect on our commitment to build the new Europe at the threshold of the third Christian millennium. This is the duty both of the bishops of the various nations of the continent and of the Bishop of Rome, following the path of what has already been done in these two thousand years of history to build a family of nations in Europe. ... Up to 1989 there were only 16 pontifical representations in Europe. In the past ten years Pope John Paul II has set up a further 16, of which six are in the territory of the former Soviet Union. By these means the Holy See tries to cooperate in promoting those ethical values which are fundamental for the life of all people, such as the sacred meaning of life, the dignity of each human person, the importance of the family, the duty of solidarity and the commitment for peace. ... Of course natural law is not a 'recipe' that solves all types of moral problems. However, it is wrong to abandon the medicine just because it does not offer definitive solutions for all types of diseases. As we well know, without natural law, social life has no absolute foundation and any aberration becomes possible. This happened with marxism, which denied the possibility of natural law, considering it as derived from bourgeois ideology, just as happened with absolute liberalism, which claimed for man the right of defining the meaning of his own life. It is my belief that we must never tire of repeating that the person, the family and society come before the politics of governments, and I think that on those grounds we can find many people of good will who will be willing to cooperate with us in once again kindling the light of natural law in the thoughts and actions of European governments. This task with those who hold the destiny of peoples in their hands must involve us all, rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesa
r's but then asking the Caesars of today to render unto God that which is His."

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