MATZOH CONTINENT:

That Europe may again be "leaven for the world" (Benedict XVI, Chiesa)

It clearly emerges from all this that one cannot think of building an authentic "common European home" while overlooking the very identity of the peoples of our Continent.

This is, in fact, an historical, cultural, and moral identity before being geographical, economic, or political; an identity constituted by a collection of universal values that Christianity has contributed to forging, thereby acquiring a role that is not only historical, but also foundational in relation to Europe.

These values, which constitute the soul of the Continent, must remain in the Europe of the third millennium as a "ferment" of civilization. In fact, if these were to be diminished, how could the "old" Continent continue to carry our the function of being "leaven" for the entire world? If, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the governments of the Union wish to "get closer" to their citizens, how could they exclude an element of European identity as essential as Christianity is, and with which the vast majority of them still identify themselves? Is it not a cause for surprise that today's Europe, while striving to position itself as a community of values, seems more often to contest the idea that there are universal and absolute values? Does not this remarkable form of "apostasy" from itself, even before [apostasy] from God, perhaps induce it to doubt its very identity?

This ends in the spread of the conviction that the "weighing of benefits" is the only method of moral discernment, and that the common good is synonymous with compromise. In reality, if compromise can constitute a legitimate balancing of different particular interests, it becomes a shared ill whenever it involves agreements that are harmful to the nature of man.

A community that constructs itself without respect for the authentic dignity of the human person, forgetting that every person is created in the image of God, ends up by not being good for anyone.

This is why it appears increasingly more indispensable that Europe should guard itself against that pragmatic attitude, widespread today, which systematically justifies compromise on essential human values, as if the acceptance of a presumably lesser evil were inevitable. Such pragmatism, which is presented as balanced and realistic, is not that way deep down, precisely because it denies the dimension of values and ideas that is inherent in human nature.

When, later, secularist and relativist tendencies and currents are woven into this sort of pragmatism, Christians are in the end denied the right to intervene as Christians in public debate, or at the very least their contribution is disqualified with the accusation that they want to safeguard unjustified privileges.

In the present historical moment and in the face of the many challenges that mark it, the European Union, in order to be a valid guarantor of the order of law and an effective promoter of universal values, cannot help but acknowledge clearly the certain existence of a stable and permanent human nature, the source of rights common to all individuals, including those who deny them. In this context, the right to conscientious objection must be safeguarded whenever fundamental human rights may be violated.

Dear friends, I know how difficult it is for Christians to make a strenuous defense of this truth of man. But do not grow weary, and do not be discouraged! You know that it is your task to contribute to building up, with the help of God, a new Europe - one realistic but not cynical, rich in ideals and free from naïve illusions, inspired by the perennial and life-giving truth of the Gospel.