Cardinal Bagnasco says
there's a global 'lobby' against
the Pope and the Church
by Vincenzo Faccioli Pintozzi
Translated from
May 29, 2009
Cardinal Bagnasco greets the Pope who addressed teh CEI General Assembly Thursday afternoon.
On a global level, "Many analysts and experts share the idea that there are strong pressures and economic-financial lobbies on the social doctrine of the Church and its Magisterium, and even against the Pope, according to Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian bishps' conference (CEI) at a news conference after the end of the CEI's 59th general assembly.
Bagnasco spoke further about what he said in his opening speech on Monday that "the church is under attack, but that this should not distract the Pastors of the Church from taking care of their respective flocks.
"Every time the Church proposes its Magisterium on the human being, which are against the ideas held by specific individuals and interest groups, it does not expect to find universal agreement," he said.
This holds true whether the Church is talking about the value of the human being (and human life) or her model of society which, "precisely because of these values, must remain open".
"But it is not possible to even think about giving in," Bagnasco added. "These are two aspects that are inseparable from the service of the Church. To neglect either of them would mean betraying the Lord as well as the people entrusted to us."
The issue is not new: conspiracies, true or imagined, carried out by and against the Church, fill history books and works of fiction, though it is far less so in actual fact, in Italian as well as in itnernational history.
But it is true that statements by the Catholic hierarchy on social issues are almost always received in secular circles [and by dissenting Catholics] in an atmosphere of intolerance that often smacks of censorship.
Cardinal Bagnasco then turned to an issue that concerns everyone today: the economic crisis on a global scale.
"Economy and finance should place the dignity of the person in the center," he said, "otherwise everything becomes exploitative."
Asked about the controversy raised by some of his remarks last Monday - particularly that about "workers dismissed by industries as if they are useless ballast" - he clarified that "The fundamental sense of the Church's social teaching is the extraordinary value of the individual person, his absolute value as the heart and measure of any relatinoship or social arrangement".
He said he was aware of provisions being made at various levels to alleviate preesent difficulties and expressed the wish that 'they will prove adequate to carry the working class through the present crisis".
Ultimately, he said, "it must be hoped that things do not go back to what they were before" but that "all thoser in positions of responsibility may be wiser and will have learned lessons from the errors for whose consequences the whole world now suffers".
"The world," he said, 'should resume development with a lifestyle that is more moderate and more fraternal".
The cardinal also tackled the so-called 'educative emergency' in Italy.
"After the legislative acknowledgment of parity between public schools and private schools - which represented a great conceptual step forward - this acknowledgment must now be realized on the practical level," he said.
To begin with, he pointed out, "There must be recognition of the specific right of parents - who are the irreplaceable 'masters' of their young children - to choose freely what schools they want to send them to. In fact, we should talk about free schools, in the sense that they are not state-run schools but are nevertheless public schools because they are open to anyone" [
such as Catholic schools are].
About the coming European parliamentary elections (on June 7), the CEI president said, "The bishops call on all citizens to participate. It is their unanimous thinking that the European Parliament should be more 'European' in the sense that John Paul II used the term, namely, 'a Europe that is home for many peoples'."
The reference most likely referred to continuing questions about free circulation of European citizens within Europe and how individual countries treat immigrants from outside Europe. In Italy, the Church has asked the government to have more open measures towards legal immigrants.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/05/2009 18:32]