Paul Keenan‘Positioning is unacceptable for Christians’ – Cardinal Marx
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) has expressed concern at Europe’s swing towards Eurosceptic parties in the recent elections.
In a statement released May 28, the cardinal said that while a large majority of voters had voted for pro-European parties allowing“the European Parliament to continue its work for the common good of all Europeans with dedicated and competent women and men”, it was a matter of “concern” that there had been a “significant increase of support for parties which reject the project of European integration”.
“Some of these parties are not only populist but nationalistic and xenophobic,” the cardinal warned. “Such positioning is unacceptable for Christians and is a threat to the peaceful coexistence of the peoples of our continent.”
Acknowledging that it is perhaps too soon for a deep analysis of the electoral shake-up that has struck Europe, Cardinal Marx nevertheless asserted that one result of the elections must be that future “debates on European issues that affect all citizens [be conducted] in an open and transparent way”.
Cardinal Marx stated confidently that recent results would ultimately prove “not the end but rather the beginning of the process of renewal at the top of the institutions of the European Union”.
“Europe is and remains, despite any criticisms on some specific points, a project of peace and reconciliation and as such is accompanied and supported positively by the Catholic Church,” he concluded.