Solidarity with the EU was seen as essential in the eyes of the Church for 70 years, said Austria's Cardinal Christoph Schönborn.
After two catastrophic world wars, the EU had proved an unprecedented peace project based on values such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and the preservation of human rights, he said in an interview for the "Don Bosco" magazine.
“The EU is beginning to break up. Great Britain is negotiating Brexit and regions like Catalonia are striving for greater autonomy or even secession, but that is frightfully short-sighted. Nationalistic tendencies are on the increase and the far-right is gaining the upper hand," he deplored.
The Church was committed to promoting greater European solidarity, peace and tolerance. In an increasingly secular Europe, it was up to Christians to stand up for the Gospel values.
Asked what he expected from the Episcopal Synod on Young People in the coming autumn, Schönborn replied: “When one considers how successful the Synod on Marriage and the Family was, there is legitimate hope that the coming Synod on Young People will provide major impulses for the synodal path.”
Young people were very creative, he recalled. The fact that there were often few young people in the parishes in Europe did not automatically mean that there were no young people in the Church, he recalled.
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