Bishops from across Europe gave thanks for the European Union at a commemoration of the First World War at the battlefield of Verdun in north-eastern France on Tuesday.
Bishops visiting the site as pilgrims celebrated Vespers for the Dead at Verdun cathedral and prayed at the Ossuaire de Douaumont, where the bones of 130,000 unknown French and German soldiers repose. Almost 1 million soldiers died in the 1916 Battle of Verdun.
A statement from the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, Comece, spoke of “the sheer folly of war and the pity of it all”, adding: “At the dawn of the twentieth century the destinies of nations in Europe were intimately interlocked; World War I need not have happened.”
They noted that the different countries they represented that had frequently been at war. While recalling Pope Benedict XV’s opposition to war, they added: “We soberly recall how even churchmen stoked the fires of conflict and fuelled nationalist passion,” they said.
The bishops continued: “We recall with gratitude the achievements of the European project and the way the vision of the founding fathers of the European Union and those they inspired down the years have contributed to peace and understanding among nations who so often resorted to armed conflict in the past, and still do in our days, as a way of resolving their differences.”
The bishops said they ended the pilgrimage “more resolute in our commitment to assist Europe recover the gospel roots of its identity, to appreciate anew the values – many of them profoundly Christian – which bind her as a community, and to promote a future for all Europe’s citizens and for the wider world where peace and justice reign.”
Above: Comece's President, German Cardinal Marx, stands amid the graves of French soldiers at Verdun. Photo: Comece
Loading ...
