EUROPE'S IDENTITY CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT CHRISTIANITY

VATICAN CITY, MAY 2, 2004 (VIS) - From his study window, Pope John Paul today prayed the Regina Coeli with the faithful who had gathered below in St. Peter's Square, including those who had attended the ordination Mass earlier in the Vatican Basilica. In remarks made before the prayer, he noted that Europe is living historic days because ten new countries yesterday entered the European Union, including his native Poland.

   "The unity of European peoples," he said, "if it wishes to be lasting, cannot be just economic and political. As I recalled in my trip to Campostella in November 1982, the soul of Europe today remains united because it has as a reference point common human and Christian values. The history of the formation of European nations goes side by side with evangelization. Thus, notwithstanding  the spiritual crises that have marked the life of the continent up to our days, its identity cannot be understood without Christianity."

  The Holy Father underscored that "precisely for this reason the Church has wished, in recent years, to give a number of contributions to the consolidation of (Europe's) cultural and spiritual unity. ... Only a Europe which does not remove, but rather rediscovers its own Christian roots can be up to the great challenges of the third millennium: peace, dialogue among cultures and religions, and the preservation of creation. All believers in Christ in both Eastern and Western Europe, thanks to open and sincere ecumenical cooperation, are called to offer their own contribution."

  Following the Regina Coeli, John Paul II extended his "cordial greetings" to the 26 priests he had just ordained in St. Peter's Basilica, as well as to their family and friends. "Today we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. I turn my special thoughts to all those who are involved in the path of formation to the priesthood and consecrated life, and I ask for prayers for many and holy vocations in the Church."

  He also had special greetings for the cardinals, bishops, religious and laity of Poland, as well as civil leaders and diplomatic representatives, on the occasion of the country's entry on May 1 into the European Union.. He noted that, as he was speaking, an outdoor Mass, presided over by Cardinal Egan of New York, was being celebrated near Warsaw in which representatives of the Polish episcopacy and European episcopacies participated. "Together with you," the Pope said, "I entrust to the wise, just and  merciful Divine Providence the future of Europe, May it grow on the foundation of the love of Christ."
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