Vatican City, Sep 26, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In a message for the occasion of the Social Weeks of France, held from September 23 to 26 in Lille, whose theme was “Europe, participating in building up a society to be invented,” Pope John Paul II emphasized that Christian values will help Europe grow as a continent and build up European society.
The Pope’s message, addressed to Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and made public on Saturday, stated that the centenary of the Social Weeks "is an occasion to discover once again the great tradition of the social Magisterium of the Church and the many saints that have characterized the European continent from the first centuries.”
He wrote that “saints such as Benedict, Cyril and Methodius, Boniface, Thomas More, the martyrs of Pontons de Rochefort, Edith Stein, Maximillian Kolbe, Brigid of Sweden; they all gave testimony that the Gospel and Christian values are a fertile terrain for the life of persons and peoples, as well as for building up society."
After recalling that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of France, the Holy Father says that this date "brings us back to the scandal that wars represent." These years, he continues, "have been characterized by many gestures of reconciliation and by the desire to make the continent a Europe of brothers and sisters."