JOHN PAUL II: EUROPE MUST CONSERVE ITS CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 23, 2002 (VIS) - This morning, John Paul II received participants in the third international forum promoted by the Alcide De Gasperi Foundation for democracy, peace and international cooperation, who are presently reflecting on the subject of Europe.

The Pope recalled that "the painful religious schism between the largely-Catholic West and the largely-Orthodox East, was one of the factors that prevented the full integration into Europe of certain Slavic peoples, with negative effects above all for the Church which needs to breath 'with two lungs,' the western and the eastern. Thus, I have strived for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, with a view to full unity."

"My greatest concern for Europe is that the continent conserve and develop its Christian heritage. Indeed, it cannot be denied that Europe's roots lie - apart from in the Greco-Roman patrimony - also in the Jewish-Christian heritage which has, for centuries, constituted the most profound essence of its soul. ... The very modes of thought, feeling, expression and behavior among European peoples have undergone profound Christian influence."

The Holy Father noted that since the 18th century "a process of secularization has taken place, aimed at excluding God and Christianity from all expressions of human life." The Christian religion has come to be relegated to the sphere of private life. "In this perspective, is it not significant that all explicit reference to religion, and hence also to Christianity, has been removed from the map of Europe? I have expressed my sadness at this fact, which I feel to be anti-historical and offensive to the Fathers of the new Europe, among whom a pre-eminent place is due to Alcide De Gasperi."

"Indeed, it is by virtue of the Christian message that great human values have become affirmed in people's consciences. Values such as the dignity and inviolability of the individual; freedom of conscience; the dignity of work and of workers; the right of each to a secure and dignified life and, consequently, to share in the goods of the earth, destined by God to the enjoyment of all mankind."

The Pope emphasized that "the Church today, with renewed vigor, again proposes these values to a Europe which risks falling into ideological relativism and surrendering to moral nihilism, at times declaring as good that which is evil, and as evil that which is good. It is my hope that the European Union may know how to draw new lifeblood from the Christian heritage that is its own, proposing adequate responses to the new questions that arise, especially in the field of ethics."

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