Silent Europe [Volume: 7(1988), pp. 3-6]

4
CARDINAL FRANZ KONIG
until the edict of Milan on the basis of the old Roman Empire. In the course
of time this continent became the dynamic missionary center for the whole
world.
The spiritual strength of Christianity caused the other Romanic, Germanic, Slavic and Hellenic peoples to grow together into one spiritual family
of states. Christianity combined very successfully with the self-consciousness
of the various nations and linguistic groups of Europe. For example, in
this wide spiritual area the Roman monastery of St. Boniface was a center
of Byzantine learning, where the Latin West could meet the Greek, EastRoman and Slavic worlds. From this very monastery came, for instance,
Bishop Adalbert of Prague. French, Greek or Latin bishops were not only
appointed but fully accepted in Italy and Germany, in Eastern France or
in the North, just as earlier Irish and English scholars and bishops had been
accepted in Western Europe. Still today the cathedrals of Europe, Christian
art, and the Christian literature held in Europe's monastery libraries bear
witness to this spiritual world. However, the ancient inheritance of the
Greeks and Romans was itself protected by the monasteries, and in this
way historical continuity was maintained-that means, it is from the preChristian building stones or Roman-Greek and Slavic peoples that an allembracing European unity was constructed.
These brief examples are intended to show how the Europe of todaydivided as it is into two separate spiritual worlds-still holds fast to a common longing for a new Europe of tomorrow. The German Ambassador
at the CSCE in Vienna, Ekkehard Eickhoff, stated in a press briefing that
the Vienna Conference had helped to give expression to the wish European
nations had to strengthen the sense of community which all felt fundamentally. So it is, let us say once more, certainly no coincidence that
Gorbachev spoke of a "common house of Europe." In the knowledge
of this common history, a question now arises for us.
II.
What does this all signify, what meaning does the Europe of today
have? Is there here a task for tomorrow? Does there still exist a European
consciousness, a European striving and planning extending into the future?
Along with the CSCE Conference on the political front, the European
Bishops' Conferences have been active in pointing time and time again to
Europe's common spiritual heritage. The Second Vatican Council reawakened interest in the spiritual aspect of this common heritage. This
new interest in Europe as a spiritual community was summed up by Pope
John Paul II in an impressive confession made during his pilgrimage to
Santiago.
In this context another question arises: to what extent is the determining power of Christianity still alive in our continent? Is not this spiritual