Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP says that in the face of rising secularisation and the growth of Islam in many historically Christian nations, Catholics should “trust in the work of grace” and remember that the Church is “an expert in humanity”. Source: CNA.
“The Church is alive and will always be, albeit under different circumstances. We must accept the decline of Europe. We tend to gaze at our ecclesiastical navel, but it is an undeniable continental movement,” the Vienna archbishop told French Catholic magazine Famille Chrétienne.
“In 20 years, the European population will not be the same as it is today, and it is already not the same as it was 50 years ago.
“This is inevitable, above all due to the decline in the birth rate in Europe but also due to immigration and the increasing presence of Islam.
“This poses new challenges for us Christians. We must also not forget that the Lord is at work in his Church! Just think of the 12,000 baptisms of adults and young people in France this year.”
The Austrian cardinal, who helped to produce the Catechism of the Catholic Church, said that despite the decline of the Church’s influence in Europe, he is convinced that the Church “has not yet breathed its last.”
“Despite secularisation, the great questions of men and women remain the same as before: birth, growth, education, illness, economic worries. And then there is the family, marriage, and death,” Cardinal Schönborn noted.
“There is a lot of talk about change, but too little attention is paid to the constants of society. The Church must remember that it is an expert in humanity, as Paul VI said.”
The cardinal called the idea that France and Europe are “no longer Christian” because of Islam’s influence “absurd,” but he firmly stressed that “Catholics should return to the Church.”
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Cardinal Schönborn: ‘We must accept the decline of Europe’ (By Jonah McKeown, CNA)
