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20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall |
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06/11/2009 (2:09)
Cardinal Péter Erdő, president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), believes that the fall of the Berlin Wall was not the work of Eastern European citizens. The Polish society, with its Solidarnosc Union and other movements, strongly contributed to this development, along with the charismatic figure of John Paul II. Nevertheless, the majority of the Eastern European population was surprised by the change that took place. They considered it a gift of Divine Providence.
After the initial euphoria, the Eastern European nations’ rapprochement to the changes brought about after 1989 is now distinct. This is what Cardinal Erdő, the Primate of Hungry, underlined:
“Naturally, with the passing of the years, we have also discovered common problems with the Western world, as well as specific problems within the eastern part of the continent, where the societies lack the systems of self-organization that are indispensable for a functioning democracy.”
20 years after the fall of the communist regime in Central and Eastern Europe, Cardinal Erdő describes the current situation as he sees it:
“Very often with liberalization, above all of the economy, a point is reached where people are exploited, certain notable sectors of the population are impoverished, and many people are unemployed. In other words, these are classical social problems, in which the teachings of the Church’s social doctrine regain their original topicality.”
The CCEE has recently initiated a new commission, or, better said, it has aggregated different pre-existing commissions with the name “Caritas in veritate”, which will see to these problems within Europe.
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