Interview with Cardinal Parolin on the eve of the Treaties of Rome’s celebration: “Do not expect Christians to say what to do, but to show through their lives the way to follow.
“The rise of populism is a sign of a deep malaise felt by many people in Europe.” “Authentic” anxieties that “cannot be circumvented in any way”, that need answers, “with more politics,” and with “good politics” which is not that of the “shouted” reactions in search of electoral consent. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state speaks to La Stampa of the challenges that Europe is facing.
What does it mean today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, which marked the beginning of the European unity?
It affirms that the European project is alive. We know there are difficulties, but the ideal remains actual. At the basis of the Treaty of Rome there was the will to overcome past divisions and give priority to a common approach to the challenges of our time. Europe’s peace and development are a tangible result of the signature affixed on 25 March 1957. The celebration of that event, therefore, reminds us that it is still possible to work together, because what unites us is more important, it is stronger than what divides us.
Today the Union is often considered a large bureaucratic structure too busy discussing States’ deficits and economic issues; it is not perceived as a real community. What are your thoughts on this widespread image?
The fact that this image of bureaucratic European Union is so widespread should question European leaders and urge them to take a more aware leadership. The soul of the European project, according to the idea of the founding fathers found its consistency in the cultural, religious, legal, political and human heritage on which Europe was built over the centuries. Rome was chosen as the site of the Treaties signing precisely for this reason. Rome is the symbol of this common heritage, and Christianity one of its fundamental elements. The spirit of the Founding Fathers was not so much to create new supranational structures, but to give life to a community, which shared its resources. Today it is necessary to rethink the EU more as a community on the way, rather than a static and bureaucratic entity.
Britain has chosen to leave the Union and “populists” movements have reappeared in various European countries. Does this represent a risk or is it a sign of a malaise asking to change?
The rise of populism is the sign of a deep malaise felt by many people in Europe and aggravated by the continuing effects of the economic recession and migration issue. They are a partial response to more complicated problems. Therefore, the resurgence of populism cannot and must not be underestimated, because Europe’s recent history has shown us the devastating effects that they can have. The anxieties that populism movement manage to intercept are authentic and cannot be circumvented in any way, rather, they should be a stimulus for a deeper reflection aiming at developing real policy responses, that is, policies able to affirming the ideal, show a prospect of action and give concrete answers.
The theme of immigration divides the EU countries. Often, Italy and Greece have been left alone in dealing with the phenomenon. What do you hope for?
The migration issue is a very complex phenomenon that cannot be simply reduced to a matter of numbers and shares. This issue is testing Europe’s ability to be true to the spirit of solidarity and subsidiarity that has been at its core from the start. Certainly, with recent years’ large flows, migration poses a security problem, which must be taken into account. While one cannot ignore those in need, on the other hand there is also the need for immigrants to observe and respect the laws and traditions of the people who receive them. However, it is clear that immigration also poses a cultural challenge, which refers to the spiritual and cultural heritage.
How can Europe regain the spirit of its founding fathers?
With more politics, in the real sense of the term. Politics is in fact at the selfless service of the polis. Good politics is also given by leaders’ good example in life. The Founding Fathers have shown it to us concretely. Unfortunately, today the politics are reduced to a set of reactions, often howled, symptom of a lack of ideals of today’s tendency to just “get by”. Policy has ended up being just an immediate search of electoral consent.
How to deal with fundamentalist terrorism and the fear it generates?
I believe that it is appropriate to identify and eradicate the root causes. Most certainly, terrorism finds a breeding ground in poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. However, we see, for example, that with the phenomenon of so-called foreign fighters, there is a much deeper cause of this malaise, which promotes terrorism, and that is the loss of values that is crossing and destabilizing the entire West, especially young people. After World War II onwards, Europe has tried to “break free” from the cultural heritage and values , which were at its core, and this has created a vacuum. Young people feel and suffer the dramatic consequences of this vacuum and since they cannot find answers to their rightful questions regarding the meaning of life, they seek palliatives and surrogates. Therefore, terrorism is fought by giving back to Europe, and the West in general, that soul which got a bit ’lost behind the glories of a “consumer civilization”.
In past years, much has been said of the Christian roots of Europe. What do they mean and what contribution can Christians give for the revival of Europe?
These roots are Europe’s lifeblood. It just takes to reread the speeches that the protagonists of March 25, 1957 read in the Capitol, to find out how they saw in the common Christian heritage a key element on which to build the European Economic Community. Then a slow process gradually took over trying to relegate Christianity more and more to the private sphere. It was thus necessary to look for other common denominators, apparently more concrete, that have however led to the void of values I mentioned earlier, increasingly fragmented societies right before our eyes. In this context, I believe that Christians are called to offer with conviction their witness of life. “Modern man and women listens more willingly to witnesses rather than to teachers”, Paul VI said. One should not expect Christians to say what to do, but to show through their lives the way to follow.
