RETURN TO CHRISTIAN ROOTS TO FIGHT EROSION OF FUNDAMENTAL VALUES

VATICAN CITY, MAY 24, 2002 (VIS) - At 4:30 this afternoon in the apostolic nunciature, Pope John Paul met with representatives of the estimated 5,000 Jewish people living in Bulgaria, Following this meeting he went to Sofia's Convention Center for an encounter with men and women of the worlds of culture, science and art.

"I address you with respect and admiration," said the Pope in opening remarks, "conscious of the delicate and important contribution that you make to the noble enterprise of building a society which encourages 'mutual understanding and readiness to cooperate through the generous exchange of cultural and spiritual resources."

He observed that "today Bulgaria celebrates the feast of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, intrepid heralds of the Gospel of Christ and founders of the literary language and culture of the Slav peoples." And he noted that in 1980 he proclaimed them co-patrons of Europe, with St. Benedict of Norcia. He underlined how these saintly brothers, "with their brilliant creation of a new alphabet, achieved special merit. ... They translated the Sacred Books into the local language" and can rightly be considered "the fathers of Slav culture. Culture is the expression, incarnate in history, of a people's identity; it forges the soul of a nation."

"The guiding inspiration of the massive work carried out by Cyril and Methodius," stated John Paul II, "was the Christian faith. Culture and faith are not only not incompatible, but are related to each other as fruit is to the tree. ... Historical experience shows that the proclamation of the Christian faith has not stifled, but rather integrated and exalted the authentic human and cultural values proper to the genius of the countries where it has been preached."

"Looking back," he went on, "we must recognize that, together with a Europe of culture, ... together with a Europe of labor, ... there is unfortunately a Europe of dictatorship and wars, a Europe of blood, tears and acts of horrific cruelty. Perhaps it is also because of these bitter experiences of the past that today's Europe seems prone to a growing temptation to skepticism and indifference in the face of the gradual erosion of fundamental moral reference points of personal and social life.

"We need to respond. In these troubling times there is an urgent need to reaffirm that Europe, if it is to discover its own deepest identity, must necessarily return to its Christian roots."
Pope John Paul, concluded his talk with praise for the project of Bulgaria's Catholic bishops to translate the Catechism of the Catholic Church into Bulgarian. He said he would like to "present symbolically the Catechism to those among you who, although not Catholic, share with us the one Baptism, so that they may known what the Catholic Church believes and preaches."

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