Pope Leo XIV: European institutions need people who know how to live a healthy secular

Pope Leo XIV said that European institutions need “people who know how to live a healthy secularism”, while urging to recognize that religion has both personal and social level value.

“When the religious dimension is authentic and well cultivated, interpersonal relationships can greatly enrich and help people live in community and society. And how important it is today to underline the value and importance of human relations!”

Leo XIV made these considerations upon receiving in the Vatican the working group on the intercultural and interreligious dialogue present in the European Parliament. The objective of this structure linked to the European Popular Party Group (European People’s Party, EPP) is to promote dialogue between different cultures, religions, philosophical beliefs and non -confessional communities within Europe.

The Pope also stressed that participation in the interreligious dialogue, by its very nature, “recognizes that religion has both personal and social level value.”

“Being men and women of dialogue means to remain deeply rooted in the Gospel and in the values ​​that derive from it and, at the same time, cultivate the openness, listening and dialogue with those who come from other contexts, always putting in the center the human person, human dignity and our relational and community nature,” he explained in his speech.

The Holy Father stressed that promoting dialogue between cultures and religions is a “fundamental objective for a Christian politician” and gave as an example of this to

Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi, considered the founding parents of Europe, who also lived their faith as a socio-political commitment.

In this way, he urged to cultivate a style of thought and action that affirms the value of religion, but “at the same time preserving the distinction – not separation or confusion – with respect to the political sphere.”