EUROPEAN CHURCHES: CARD. ERDÕ (CCEE), “A GREAT CHANGE” BEGINNING “WITH SMALL THINGS”

“We must appeal to the conscience of each one of us. Beginning with small things, we can bring about a profound change in our mentality”, said the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) Péter Erdõ to SIR on the occasion of the European pilgrimage of CCEE delegates for the Safeguard of Creation, which began yesterday in Esztergom (Hungary) and will reach Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, today (SIR report on the pilgrimage: click here). “A change – highlighted card. Erdõ – that must necessarily be subordinated to our conscience, for only through knowledge we can have a comprehensive vision of the world, thus improving our moral judgement”. At the end of his speech, the Hungarian archbishop stressed the “great importance of dialogue with the natural sciences which can “improve man’s attitude towards Creation” by enriching and deepening his knowledge and thanks to which theology can better define “moral judgement” on human behaviour.
The human community must “find the rules for a reasonable behaviour” knowing that “the law without morality is not enough, for it cannot disregard a spontaneous observance of the law: were it not so, we would need as many policemen as the number of citizens, and we would live in an anarchy”. These words were spoken by the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) Péter Erdõ, who met the journalists on the margins of the European pilgrimage of Bishops´ Conferences delegates for the safeguard of creation, which opened yesterday (1 September) at Esztergom (Hungary). All scientific novelties, explained card. Erdõ, must be “linked to morality and need legal rules” so that man does not fall into an “unbridled subjectivism” that prevents him from “having a global vision of the world in which he lives”. Today, both the law and the moral are “replaced by methods that influence human behaviour without referring to people’s freedom”, but this is only a “post-modern utopia” which deprives man of the responsibility of his behaviour. “We are faced with an environmental question”, concluded the cardinal, for only a “cultural basis and a comprehensive vision of the world” can make us understand “our responsibility towards creation”.

© SIR - september, 2th 2010