Zuppi: "In Ukraine not only the ruthless logic of the conflict remains"

"We are grateful to Pope Francis for his prophecy, so rare today, when talking about peace seems to avoid taking sides or not recognizing responsibility. His voice takes on the deep, sometimes unexpressed, often unheeded anxiety of peoples who need peace. War is a pandemic. It involves us all. During his recent trip to Hungary, he asked himself: 'Where are the creative peace efforts?' Let us allow ourselves to be disturbed by this question, so that only the ruthless logic of conflict does not remain." Thus Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi in his introduction to the work of the CEI General Assembly. "For us, peace is not only a wish, but it is the very reality of the Church, which germinates - like the sign of peace - from the Eucharist and the Gospel. The Church and Christians believe in peace, we are all called to be peacemakers, even more so in the terrible storm of conflicts", said the president of the CEI and archbishop of Bologna, to whom the Pope entrusted the task of "conducting a mission, in agreement with the Secretariat of State, that contributes to easing tensions in the conflict in Ukraine".

"We are the people of peace, starting from Jesus who is our peace - underlined the president of the CEI -. We are so for the history of our country, for its location in the Mediterranean, a hinge between North and South, but also between East and West". And he added: "As Italian Christians, with the Pope, we are called to a fervent and insistent prayer for peace in Ukraine and that 'all the peoples of the earth may become brothers and sisters and the longed-for peace may always flourish in them' (Pacem in Terris, 91)", also recalling the multiplication of ongoing conflicts. "I think of Sudan and its humanitarian drama. In a world like ours we cannot ignore a global vision - Zuppi recalled - following the painful events of distant countries, with prayer and information, is a form of charity. Moreover, the culture of peace is a decisive chapter in the culture of life, which draws inspiration from faith".

"Often young couples are unable to start a family simply because of job insecurity or lack of support policies, starting with housing. That of the family has a direct impact on another issue, which now presents itself as a dramatic multi-year negative trend: it is the demographic crisis", denounced Zuppi. "It is the whole country that is suffering a crisis - he underlined - and this also has to do with the reception of migrants and their inevitable integration into our society. Hospitality and birth rate, Pope Francis recalled, not only do not oppose each other but complement each other and are born from the desire to look to the future". According to Zuppi, "the demographic issue and all social issues deserve attention and forward-looking policies. It is wrong to oppose or separate ethical values and social values: they are the same culture of life that flows from the Gospel!"

"The culture of life - he underlined - knows that it is born and grows in the family and that everything does not depend on one's own subjective will that comes to justify the so-called surrogate motherhood, which uses the woman, often poor, to realize the desire of others for parenthood". Pope Francis, Zuppi continued, "has made it clear that birth and hospitality are in the same horizon of openness to the future: 'They should never be opposed because they are two sides of the same coin, they reveal to us how much happiness there is in society' (Address to Participants in the Third Edition of the States General of Birth, 12 May 2023)".

Instead, "the acceptance of nascent life is accompanied by the doors closed to emigrant refugees. It is the sad society of fear." For the president of the CEI, "closing the doors to those who knock is, in the end, in the same logic as those who do not make room for life in their own home. After all, we need migrants to live: business, family and society ask for them. Let us not sow obstacles, with a punitive shadow, their path in our country!"

"There is a level of bureaucratic difficulty that makes it difficult to enter the path, family reunification, the long time to obtain residence permits, while neglecting the recognition of immigrants' qualifications (which are also a value for the nation) or even postponing a decision on the ius culturae . Meanwhile, the regularization of 2020 is still waiting to be partially completed. It is not giving security, rather it expresses our insecurity," Zuppi noted.

In his speech Zuppi also touched on the theme of the Constitutional Charter and the changes under discussion. "Over the years, the idea of revising the architecture of the common home, the Republican Constitution, has advanced: this calls us to always think about it together with others", the Cardinal observed. "The Constitution - as President Mattarella has repeatedly reminded us - is inspiring to live together for the common good. Updating the constitutional dictate to the new requirements of the time is a process that we follow closely," he noted.

For Zuppi, "the method is decisive. To change the Constitution it is necessary to rediscover a constituent spirit, as it was in the post-war period, in which all parties felt a common responsibility: it was not a moment of political struggle, but the possibility of founding the political life of the future". And "a first test, as the Permanent Council declared last September, is an adequate and shared electoral law," he added.

"Let us certainly not forget the shame for the scandal of abuse and for the suffering caused by them that pushes us to face them with a renewed commitment, without opacity, naivety, complicity and justicialism", said the cardinal in his speech. "The meeting recently experienced with some victims, families and survivors, is confirmation or with those who have experienced firsthand our choice to continue in the dialogue undertaken this drama. We are also convinced that listening to suffering is an essential step on the path to consolidate and make more effective the training and prevention activities implemented by the Churches in Italy through the territorial network of Services for the protection of minors and vulnerable adults", he added.