Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller gave a speech at El Escorial (Spain) on the occasion of the closing of the Summer Course of the Higher Institute of Sociology, Economics and Politics (ISSEP).
In his conference entitled “Christian orientations for a new Europe”, the purple German offered a deep reflection on the spiritual and moral crisis of the continent, stressing that “generalized disorientation must be counteracted with that fundamental certainty that can only arise from the roots of the human being in Jesus Christ.”
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First, the cardinal stressed that Europe is not only a geographical reality, but also “an idea” that has historically established itself as a “universal historical fact.”
He explained that Western civilization was forged from Christianity and proposed a vision of the human being created “according to the image and likeness of God.”
“It is impossible to define Europe without Christianity”
In this context, the Emeritus Prefect of Dicastery for the doctrine of faith stressed that “the individual human being as a person always has absolute priority over any totalitarian ideology and, as citizens, over the State.”
He also warned about the existence of a “Radical Destainization Program of Europe” in the last 300 years, initiated “by the Radical French Jacobins and theoretically supported by the religious criticism of the nineteenth century, to then materialize in the totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century.”
However, he pointed out that such a Dististianization program “failed to erase the Christian ideas that molded Europe, but only secularize them.”
Therefore, he reiterated that “it is impossible to define Europe without Christianity,” although he clarified that Christianity “is not linked to Europe in its origins or its essence.” In his opinion, “Christianity is rather a person with whom we have a totally personal relationship based on faith, hope and love.”
In this line, he explained that the current conflict in Europe is between its Christian identity and the new ideological currents: “The centrality of the human being is the true point of discord between a Europe that feeds on its Christian sources and a Europe that denies its Christian identity and, consequently, must be opened to atheistic ideologies, antihumanists or postumumenists. This consists of cultural war today,” he explained.
He also criticized the tendency of certain scientists and social engineers of “humiliating” the gaze that values the human being “as the center and end of all creation”, in order to demonstrate that the privileged position of humanity in the cosmos is invalid, “because no god is needed as a hypothesis for the physical and biochemical explanation of the origin of the cosmos and the evolution of life and, therefore, a creator is not necessary exists ”.
The goal of the human being can only be eternal happiness in God
Given this vision, he reaffirmed that “the goal of the human being, created by God and for God, can only be eternal happiness in God. His physical existence in the material world and his social nature in family and society are only the means to achieve perfection in God.”
“Faith, in the Christian sense, is, therefore, a rational and moral act through which the human person is voluntarily oriented towards God, and not a mere bath in religious feelings and spiritual experiences,” he added.
In his analysis of the origin of evil and the sense of freedom, he recalled that “evil entered the world for the free will, who turned away from God. And it can also be overcome by the free will to good if human beings are entrusted to the grace of the God who forgives and renews.”
He also stressed that “beyond that, we can even contribute to the construction of the kingdom of God working for our eternal salvation through faith in the God of truth and love, the reception of the sacraments and a life in the follow -up of Christ.”
The purple also encouraged not to fall into pessimism against technological advances, and said that artificial intelligence “is technically controllable by human instrumental reason” and that this can be oriented “towards good by virtue of metaphysical and moral reason.”
He also denounced that the great human tragedies “that challenge all reason not only contradict our innate compassion and our sense of justice”, but also “betray the deep logic of all creation.”
Thus, he remarked that “in the depths of consciousness, where each one is completely only and intimate with God, we judge ourselves and present ourselves to God as our merciful judge and, at the same time, unbearable.”
Evil and death do not succeed over God’s universal will for salvation
With a hopeful look, he claimed to be convinced that “the divine reason finally guides the story towards good, and that love is revealed as the Logos of Freedom. In the end, evil and death do not succeed over God’s universal will for salvation.”
The cardinal regretted the “growing forgetfulness of God and religious indifference in Europe,” pointing out that many people, including baptized Christians, “live as if God did not exist.”
However, he said that hope “is specifically in the Gospel of Christ”, which enables a “community of nations in peace and freedom.” He added that “generalized disorientation must be counteracted with that fundamental certainty that can only arise from the roots of the human being in Jesus Christ.”
Finally, Cardinal Müller stressed that “the Church is not an NGO dedicated to improving the material conditions of life”, but that it “is in Christ as a sacrament, that is, the sign and instrument of the intimate union with God and of the unity of the entire human race.”
The Cardinal concluded that Christianity “becomes the pillar of a new Europe of Peace, Freedom and Social Justice”, and that the Church “can make an important contribution in this regard, since it has always been a model of fraternal unity in the diversity of cultural expressions.”
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
Graduated in journalism and advertising from the CEU San Pablo University of Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. It has been a senior correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News at the Vatican for two years and is currently a correspondent for Europe based on Spain.