“In his address to the Heads of Government and State of EU member Countries of March 2017 Pope Francis spoke of a unity of differences and of a unity in differences, and recalled that the founding Fathers highlighted the importance of partaking in everyone’s resources and talents. I believe that Europe should rediscover itself as a community of persons and peoples, and that each member Country should extend its gaze to see the greater good that benefits everyone.” Mons. Ioan Robu, Archbishop of Bucharest, president of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, shared with SIR his reflections on “(Re)thinking Europe”, the theme of the dialogue forum to be held in the Vatican, jointly promoted by COMECE and the Holy See.
This “dialogue forum” is an initiative of the Catholic Church to “rethink Europe.” Are we still in time – despite the ongoing crisis – to relaunch the project of a Europe of solidarity, united, pacified, and open to the world? Indeed, I firmly believe that the European project can and must be relaunched. And we must not be discouraged, in fact we should enhance it as an opportunity to look behind, see how much progress we have made so far, identify the elements that could have diverted us from our journey, and restart with greater motivation, headed towards our goal that is not a point of arrival but a journey that must be undertaken together. Indeed, citizens’ confidence in European institutions is diminishing. In Romania, for example, 67% of the overall population viewed European institutions with confidence at the time of EU adhesion, ten years ago, but today the figures dropped to 48%. I think that first of all it’s a problem of identity. Nobody can deny the benefits that EU adhesion brought to Romanian citizens and to our country’s development. Yet many people strive to identify the present European project that tends toward cultural flattening and seeks to impose a certain identikit of European citizenship. Europe is not a sum of rules to be observed or imposed, nor is it a handbook of procedures to be performed.
It’s made of peoples, thus we must restore the human person with his transcendent and inalienable dignity to his central role,
We must enhance the beauty and richness of a unity in differences of cultures and traditions. We ought to jointly rediscover the values shared by European peoples, starting from the Christian roots of the continent and from the pillars on which the founding fathers erected the Common European Home: in addition to the central role of the human person, to solidarity, the quest for peace and for the common good, openness to the world and to the future. I believe that the realms of education and media also have an important role to re-launch and promote confidence in European institutions.
In Europe we have witnessed the rise of new walls, the United Kingdom has made a backward step, Catalonia wants to break away from the rest of the Country, we are experiencing a resurgence of particularisms. How do you view these events? As Romanians, our recent history, that lasted almost 50 years, was marked by closure and isolation from the rest of Europe and of the world. Freedom, in particular the freedom of circulation, were the first elements appreciated by Romanian people after the fall of Ceausescu’s regime. Since 2007, since we joined the EU, Europe has also become our home. In some of our villages people don’t lock the doors of their houses because they trust one another. The barriers that are being built around us, as people, ethnic communities, countries, are signs of mistrust that make us see the other person not as a brother, but as a threat. It’s almost a paradox that while European Countries seek to (re) build a common home together, at internal level we see signs of fragmentation. I’m thinking of Catalonia, of the recent consultative referendums held in Italy by the Regions of Lombardy and Veneto, of those who call for autonomy in Romania for a region with a Magyar population majority. When visible walls are raised, they had already been raised in our hearts. Walls of mistrust, resentment and even hatred. We ought to recover our openness and seek paths of dialogue leading to constructive harmony, shunning destructive hegemonies, aiming at peaceful coexistence and at the quest of the common good.
What relationship can there be between identity – historical, cultural and religious – and the political construction of a great “common home”? This is a very important question. In fact the citizens of the European Union should see with their own eyes, or should be helped to see in concrete terms, that the – veritable, concrete and “objective” – common values, starting from Bucharest to encompass all of Europe up to London, are far greater than the differences among European peoples. Moreover, we live together in a geographic area with a two-thousand-year long Christian presence…
I think that the time has come to rebuild a more united and cooperative Europe
Focusing on what unites us rather than on what divides us, viewing difference as a source of richness and not as a threat to the identity of individual peoples.
Romania joined the EU ten years ago. What has this experience meant for your Country? Romania’s entrance in the European Union brought many advantages to Romanian citizens. I’m thinking of freedom of movement that also furthered the possibility, especially for the young, of attending universities across Europe, of having working experiences in various European societies, of enriching themselves culturally. Of course, this freedom and the search for a better life have encouraged an emigration that worries us, as a nation and as a Church. Another advantage is economic development, favoured by grants that Romania received from the EU. Justice is an equally important area, notably the role of the European Court of Human Rights (under the auspices of the Council of Europe), that to a certain extent guarantees the respect of human rights, including freedom of worship. As a Church, we lodged an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg when justice failed in our Country in the case of the archdiocese of Bucharest versus the huge illegal construction built near St. Joseph’s cathedral; appeals were lodged by various Greek-Catholic parishes that were refused to be returned their places of worship.
And what are the problems, in your experience? We expect the EU to show greater sensitivity towards the variety of cultures that compose it. Europe cannot be united by imposing on member Countries – under the influence of anti-Christian secularism – regulations that go against their habits and cultures. I am thinking of the pressure put on Romania, for example, to “expand” the definition of family, or to equate de facto unions or homosexual unions to the natural family, to impose the gender theory… As I said, Europe’s unity is a journey we must make together, in full respect of our differences.
The Pope has spoken about Europe on many occasions, encouraging the progress of the EU. What could be the role of the Church in this respect? The Church actively accompanies the progress of united Europe. Nowadays the Church should be a clear, simple and direct voice in the promotion of the human person’s transcendent dignity in European society.
Pope Francis is the right man at the right moment.
We pray that with the help of the Virgin Mary and of the Patron Saints of Europe he shall infuse courage and determination into Christians of all denominations to rebuild a united, open Europe together. Our present times are as difficult as those lived by Saint John Paul II. In those years a world was being disassembled. Today our world is being reborn. Times of death and rebirth are painful, but they are also full of hope.
