EUROPEAN UNION: GEOGRAPHIC, ECONOMIC, AND SPIRITUAL REALITY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 30, 2001 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father received the fifty participants of the plenary assembly of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union (COMECE), which is being held in Rome.

John Paul II reminded those present that the Commission "proposes ... to confront, from a pastoral point of view, the increasingly prominent themes relating to the jurisdiction and activity of the European Union and to encourage cooperation among the episcopates concerning questions of shared interest."

The European Union, the Pope affirmed, "must not, however, be solely a geographical reality and continental economic entity, but must above all propose a cultural and spiritual understanding, shaped by a fruitful combination of multiple and meaningful values and traditions."

The Holy Father recalled that two Special Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have been dedicated to the mission of the Church in Europe, in 1991 and in 1999. In particular this last assembly "powerfully confirmed how Christianity can offer a decisive and substantial contribution of renewal and hope to the European continent, offering with a renewed impulse the ever current announcement of Christ, sole Redeemer of man."

After having noted that the Commission and the episcopal conferences of the continent are dedicating themselves to the religious and cultural formation of the faithful, the Holy Father said: "The construction of a new Europe, in fact, needs men and women endowed with human wisdom, and a lively sense of discernment, based upon a solid anthropology which is not detached from the personal experience of divine transcendence."

"Society frequently delegates the determination of its aims to rational calculation, to technology or to the interests of a majority. It is necessary to strongly underline that the dignity of the human person is rooted in the design of the Creator, such that the rights flowing from it are not subject to arbitrary intervention of the majority, but are recognized by all and maintained at the center of every social plan and every political decision."

The Pope concluded his discourse emphasizing that those who govern, public administrations, and those who formulate laws must constantly look after "the human being and his fundamental needs." In this area, "the Church will not fail to offer her specific contribution."

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