The idea of a “Christian Europe” is a thing of the past, according to Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.
“We will no longer have a Christian Europe, but hopefully a small, lively Church in Europe,” Hollerich said in Frankfurt on Wednesday evening. There were many people in Europe today who could no longer make sense of the concepts of Christianity and even “no longer understand the word ‘God’”, Hollerich said. The continent was in the midst of a “huge civilisational change”.
For this reason, Christians must focus on showing their faith through authentic and compassionate behaviour in future, he said. Unlike in earlier times, this was no longer a Christian society where Church doctrine came first. Instead, what was needed today was encounters, and an attitude of openness that accepted people. This did not mean that the doctrine is wrong, but credible action was needed now to awaken people’s interest in the Christian faith.
“In the Church, we have to act more like Christ again,” Hollerich said. That meant accepting people without judging them, be they remarried divorcees or homosexual, Hollerich said. Excluding someone was regarded as un-Christian today, said the 64-year-old cardinal, who is also the moderator (“Relator General”) of the Catholic World Synod called by the Pope.
Hollerich, the archbishop of Luxembourg, was speaking at the Philosophical-Theological University Sankt Georgen on the topic “Will the Church in Europe be fit for the future? How are reforms possible?”.
Originally reported by KNA Germany.
