Tag: Christianity

Much of what we “know” today about the inner workings of the Second Vatican Council is thanks to a mischievous priest.

Father Francis Xavier Murphy, C.Ss.R, was a “peritus,” or theological adviser, to an American bishop at the council. He was also a talented journalist and wrote about the Council for the New Yorker under the pseudonym Xavier Rynne (his middle name plus his mother’s maiden name).

Rynne’s “Letters from the Vatican” gave “a gossipy but engrossing account of what was going on” at the council, in the words of one Church historian. His inside scoops were unique and controversial, stirring the anger of Vatican officials who had imposed a vow of secrecy about council proceedings on participants. (Similar restrictions were also in place at the most recent synod gathering in Rome, but with apparently more success.)

Murphy did not come clean about being Xavier Rynne until late in life, and that was because he did not want his heteronym to be claimed by the “damned Jesuits.” I think there was more to it than that, and I understand his nostalgia for an exciting time in his life and that of the whole Church.

His nostalgia prompted him to confide in a layman, Richard Zmuda, who helped him write an introduction to an edition of his New Yorker pieces published in 1999. This year, he published “The Mole of Vatican Council II” (ACTA Publications, $29.95), a work Zmuda says “should be considered historical fiction” that draws from Murphy’s extensive personal correspondence, travels to Rome, perusal of various secret files kept on the priest, and his own close personal relationship with his novel’s protagonist.

Why Zmuda decided on writing a novel about Murphy subtitled “The True Story of ‘Xavier Rynne’ ” is puzzling to me. Much of the book reads like a history, albeit simplified and not immune from the label “tendentious.” He sees the Second Vatican Council as a kind of ecclesiastical version of the movie “High Noon,” with his hero fighting alone against the evil cardinals of the Roman Curia.

The chief villain is the arch-conservative Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani. Then the head of the Holy Office (now known as the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith), he is depicted with so much antipathy that this reader began to sympathize with the supposed ogre. An outspoken critic of some of the ideas that surfaced during the council, Ottaviani’s episcopal motto was “Semper Idem” (“Always the same”). Zmuda reports this as a kind of “Aha!” detail without mentioning that the phrase is scriptural, referring to “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

In a speech at the council’s first session, St. Pope John XXIII said that “the great problem addressed to the world, for almost two thousand years, remains unchanged. Christ, radiating at the center of history and life; and men, either with Him and the Church … or … without Him or against Him.” That seems like pretty binary and old-school thinking to me.

Zmuda is no theologian, which is no crime, but that should have made him hold back on some sweeping statements about history. He seems to believe that the Council of Trent “resulted in the cataclysmic split of the Protestants away from the Roman Catholic Church, including the eventual formation of the Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, and other Christian denominations.” You cannot cause something ex post facto.

Several times he implies that Pope John XXIII was against the ecclesiastical use of Latin. He forgets that, after the call for the council had already been made, the pope wrote an apostolic constitution, Veterum Sapientia (“The Wisdom of the Ancients”), which stated, “the Latin language, by its nature, is perfectly adapted to all forms of culture en all peoples: it does not inspire envy, is impartial with all, is no one’s particular privilege and is well accepted by all. We cannot forget the Latin language has a noble and characteristic structure, and a concise, diverse, and harmonious style that is majestic and dignified, especially suited for clarity and solemnity.” According to a former seminary professor, theological instruction was mandated in Latin by Veterum Sapientia.

When Zmuda lets the liberal (good)-conservative (bad) trope rest, he ventures into some strange territory. The fictional Father Murphy has his own bank accounts, likes to eat and drink at fancy Roman restaurants, and keeps his fat checks from The New Yorker for himself (in defiance of his vow of poverty). 

He is enamored of a wealthy Italian aristocrat (with whom he is pretty up close and personal) and contemplates violating his vow of chastity with a waitress that he flirts with in front of a bishop. To complete the trifecta, he lies to his superiors and hierarchical figures (which would be against the vow of obedience, according to some people I know in the Midwest).

The two women, Cristina and Luciana, are “composite characters,” he says, “invented by me but are considered essential to the authenticity of the overall storyline.” That is a curious statement to make, but I confess that, for me, the book’s only element of suspense comes from the priest’s relationships with the two femmes vitales. I held my breath reading how the priest and the waitress dine on the rooftop of a ritzy hotel, before the cleric stops the elevator on a floor where he has rented a room. (Spoiler alert: the canny working lady quickly punches the button for the lobby and the priest stares as the doors close on her descent.)

The book jacket describes the “novel” as a “timeless and timely thriller.” Needless to say, I was happy to finish reading the thing, but far from thrilled.

    

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Today, dear brothers and sisters, we have gathered on the fortieth day after Pascha of Christ. The Resurrection is the day that seemed to concentrate in itself all the depth of our faith, our experiences, our prayer, our joy and jubilation. Then there was Bright Week when cross processions were held, when the royal doors were open, and those who had a chance came to these services. On Bright Saturday the royal doors were closed—and of course, every believer feels a slight sadness at this moment—but then there was a long period when we lived in the feeling of the special presence of the Resurrection of Christ. And yesterday was the Apodosis (Leavetaking) of Pascha.

Every great feast has an Apodosis, but perhaps no other Apodosis evokes this kind of sadness that comes with separation from something important, radiant and great. Yesterday we sang “Christ is Risen!” for the last time this year during the service, and it would seem as if from the sadness of parting we should lower our heads. But on Ascension Day we lift up our heads. We lift up our heads on high and hear in the hymns and prayers of this feast very important words that affirm to us: “I am with you and no one will be against you.”

The Lord accomplished the work of our salvation: He came to earth and took on human flesh. The events of all the great feasts are interconnected: the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Baptism of the Lord, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of the Lord. The Savior, being both a man and God, strengthened His disciples, cared for them and taught them during these forty days. He took special care of them. The holy Apostle Luke tells us about it in detail in his Gospel and a little more fully in the Acts, which he wrote. The Lord gave the Apostles the final instructions and asked them to stay in Jerusalem, saying that the Comforter would come and their task was to preach in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8)—that is, it was such a huge mission. And, as we know from the Holy Scriptures, having said this, the Savior blessed His disciples and started ascending into Heaven, a cloud covered Him, and two angels (two men, as the Holy Scriptures read) said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven (Acts 1:11). In spite of such a seeming loss and separation, they remained with great joy.

What does the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord mean to us? First, the Lord accomplished His work and ascended into Heaven, to God the Father, and was glorified. He told His disciples that if He was not glorified, neither would the Comforter come to them, Who would strengthen and fill them (cf. Jn. 14:16) .

Second, Blessed Theodoretos of Cyrus says on the Feast of the Ascension: “Today there is great joy in all and everything. Today the devil is groaning, feeling a great loss, ‘All my labors are in vain. The Lord is taking away all those whom I have so cleverly snared. I did not know that there is he Godhead in the body.” Our body has to do with communion with the Godhead, especially in the sacrament of Holy Communion. We also know this in prayer, in calling on the name of God, when our seemingly weak body, weak spirit and weak will sometimes receive extraordinary strength, and a human being is able to overcome himself. Why? Because God glorified our body at His Ascension.

One more point: Without the Ascension of the Lord, as has already been said, the Descent of the Holy Spirit would have been impossible. The Lord Himself said about it: If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you (Jn. 16:7). And if before the Ascension the Lord was confined to His physical body and had very few followers, then after the Ascension He strengthened the Apostles with the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost for preaching worldwide. And again, we return to the words of the kontakion composed by St. Romanus the Melodist (the sixth century): “I am with you and no one will be against you.” That is, the Lord is always—in any place and at any time—with each one of those who call upon His name. Christianity became a world religion.

Ascension of the Lord. Mosaic. Italy     

Probably no other creature on earth gazes into the sky (unless, perhaps, to discern a danger that may come from there). And only humans can turn their gaze to heavens, examining them and contemplating for a long time. During the Great Patriotic War [a part of the Second World War in Russia.—Trans.] a soldier was severely wounded and contused in battle. Thinking that he was dying, in such a state he was lying wounded on the ground, with only the skies before his eyes. It was a cloudless, deep blue sky. And he, a former Komsomol member brought up in atheism, prayed, “Lord, if you’re there, help me, and if I survive I will dedicate my life to You.” The man survived, and lthough he lived in a difficult time, he managed to obtain a theological education and become a priest. In a borderline region of our country, on the territory of two large districts where there were no churches, he managed to build a prayer house in honor of St. Nicholas. And for several decades he celebrated services there, converting many people to the faith. It was his lifting up to heaven, looking up to heaven (even in such difficult circumstances) that helped this to happen.

Brothers and sisters, this feast, also gives all of us strength, confidence and reason to reflect that we can tear ourselves away from earth—from our duties, work, illnesses and problems—lifting up our eyes on high, as it is written in the Holy Scriptures (cf. Jn. 11: 41). And the proof of this is our holy New Martyrs and Confessors.

May 25 was the anniversary of the consecration of this beautiful cathedral in the center of Moscow, built in honor of the holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, which in that year was the feast of the Ascension. Sometimes as you look out of the window toward the boulevard you see people passing by who stop and look at this extraordinary, enormous and magnificent cathedral with amazement. And, indeed, they involuntarily lift up their eyes on high, and who knows what may be happening or is happening in their souls at that moment.

The New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, being in the most difficult conditions, when they slept in stuffy barracks, on bunk beds, worked in harsh weather conditions, at logging camps, or doing other kinds of hard labor, were hungry, exhausted and emaciated, but lived by looking—both literally and figuratively—into the heavens. They lifted up their eyes on high, prayed to the Savior, and found great strength in those difficult conditions—remembering the Ascension of the Lord and these greatly inspiring words: “I am with you and no one can be against you.” Have a joyful Feast!

St. Anthony of Padua is frequently called upon as the patron saint of lost items, but he was also the “Hammer of Heretics” who used his own life and his preaching as a great example for others in his time.

St. Anthony was born Ferdinand, in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195. He decided to enter religious life at the age of 15, first living in a monastery of the Augustinian order near Lisbon.

In 1220, he decided he wanted to imitate the witness of the Franciscan friars, and follow the example of St. Francis, who was still alive at that time. He joined a small Franciscan monastery a year later, and took the name Anthony, after St. Anthony of Egypt, a desert monk from the fourth century.

Although he had a great knowledge of theology and Scripture, he served as a dishwasher in Assisi, near St. Francis, until he was forced to give a speech to Dominicans and Franciscans at an assembly. He then went on to teach theology in the Franciscan order in several cities.

Anthony had a reputation for working miracles, including eating a poisoned meal without harm after blessing it, and raising a group of fish from the sea to hear his preaching.

On June 13, St. Anthony died at the age of 36, and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX a year later.

In an address to the nation June 11, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced the death of the country’s Vice President Saulos Chilima, described as a “devout Catholic” by Church leaders.

Chilima was killed along with nine others in a military plane that crashed at a hill near Lunjika Turn Off in Chikangawa forest plantations in Mzimba.

“Something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its way back to Lillongwe, sending it crashing down and killing everyone on board, and leaving us all devastated and asking ourselves questions whose answers cannot take away the pain and the helplessness we feel from this loss,” the president told the nation from Kamuzu Palace, the country’s presidential residence.

The military plane on Monday June 10 left the Kamuzu International Airport with the Vice President and nine others, including the crew. The aircraft was to land at the Mzuzu International Airport, approximately 230 miles to the north of the country. Chilima was going “to attend the funeral of Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, late Honourable Ralph Kasambara,” in the words of the president.

However, upon arrival in Mzuzu, the pilot was unable to land the plane due to poor visibility caused by bad weather, and aviation authorities advised the aircraft to return to Lilongwe. It was on the return trip that the aircraft crashed, killing all on board.

“The news of the loss of the vice president and others on board has left us heart broken,” said Father David Niwagaba, the Managing Director of Catholic Luntha TV.

“There are tears everywhere in Malawi and in particular the Catholic Church. Malawi has lost a great man who gave hope to many and inspired many for his faith as a Catholic.” he told Crux.

The vice president was a member of the St. Patrick’s Parish in Lilongwe.

Niwagaba told Crux that “the mood in Malawi is a somber one,” and that the nation was in shock.

He said when news of the disappearance of the plane broke out, many Catholics went into prayer looking for God’s intervention, and hoping the Vice President and others with him would come back alive.

Father Petros Mwale, the parish priest at St. Martin De Porres Parish in the Mzuzu Diocese spoke about the disaster on ‘X’: “We mourn the loss of the Vice President of Malawi and the nine others who perished in a plane crash. Your prayers are requested for our nation during this difficult time. The Vice President was a devout Catholic and a good man.”

Father Edmond Nyoka also wrote on ‘X’, describing a photo of a pilgrimage in which the Vice President took part: “The man holding the cross, also kneeling (in black) is the Vice president of Malawi who has died in a plane crash. He loved the Church. Very active and humble.”

Chakwera said that like all Malawians, he felt pain and helplessness at the passing of the Vice President, but urged his compatriots to “comfort each other now and in the weeks to come as we mourn together.”

“Chilima was a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction, and a formidable vice President,” the president said, as he paid tribute to his late deputy.

“I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to have had him as my deputy and counselor for the past four years. His passing is a terrible loss to his wife, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the cabinet and to all of us as a nation that found his leadership and courage a source of inspiration,” Chakwera told the nation.

“I know that the others who were on that flight were men and women of honor who served their country with distinction, and whose families are left with broken hearts today. I am profoundly sorry to all of you for this terrible loss, and I pray to God to comfort us all and to bind up our wounds as we mourn together as one nation,” the president said.

Chilima was born in February 1973. He hails from the Ngoni tribe, in Ntcheu District in Central Malawi. He is married to Mary and together they have two children.

Chilima ran for president in 2019, but failed to get past Mutharika, the incumbent. He came third, behind both Mutharika and Chakwera, but the Constitutional Court annulled the election because of irregularities.

Chilima then joined Chakwera’s campaign as his running mate in the rerun election in 2020. Their ticket won the presidency and both men went into a political arrangement in which Chakwera would rule only for one term and support his Vice President in the 2025 presidential election.

Chilima has been facing corruption charges, with prosecutors accusing the Vice President of receiving money in exchange for influencing the award of government contracts. The Vice President has always denied the allegations.

Clamart, France, June 11, 2024

Photo: cerkov-ru.com     

On Saturday, June 8, a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Paris suburb of Clamart festively celebrated its 100th anniversary.

The Church of Sts. Constantine and Helen in Clamart is one of the oldest parishes of the Western European Exarchate, reports the Exarchate’s Diocese of Chersonese.

The Divine Liturgy for the occasion was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Nestor of Korsun and Western Europe, His Eminence Archbishop, a retired hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, parish rector Hieromonk Joseph (Pavlinchuk), parish priest Fr. Alexander Mashtaler, and other guests.

Photo: orthodox-world.org     

A congratulatory address from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill noted that the parish was founded by Count Konstantin Khreptovich-Butenev and his family in the years after the Russian revolution. Noted diaspora cleric Archpriest Mikhail Osorgin dedicated 50 years of ministry to the Clamart church.

Following the Liturgy, a moleben was celebrated, with a cross procession. Many Years were proclaimed for Pat. Kirill, Met. Nestor, and the clergy and faithful of the parish community, and Memory Eternal was sung for founders, deceased pastors, and parishioners.

The celebrations ended with a festive meal in the church garden.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

“Called to the Fullness of Dignity” is the theme of this year’s Religious Freedom Week of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The observance opens June 22, the feast day of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, both English martyrs who fought religious persecution. The week ends June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and includes the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, which is June 24.

Building on this year’s annual report by the USCCB’s Committee on Religious Liberty, Religious Freedom Week 2024 highlights concerns about attacks on houses of worship.

“There is no greater threat to religious liberty than for one’s house of worship to become a place of danger, and the country sadly finds itself in a place where that danger is real,” the committee said in its 48-page report, “The State of Religious Liberty in the United States,” issued in January.

Religious Freedom Week also calls attention to threats to Catholic ministries that serve immigrants.

“In recent years, Christian services to migrants have faced aggressive accusations by both media personalities and political leaders seeking to advance a certain narrative about current immigration trends,” said the June 7 USCCB release on the upcoming weeklong observance. “The attacks on both sacred spaces and ministries to migrants reflect the political and cultural polarization that has come to characterize so much of American life.”

One recent example of political leaders’ aggressive moves against assistance for migrants by churches and other nonprofits is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to shut down El Paso’s Annunciation House, a Catholic nonprofit serving migrants. A couple of months after Paxton’s previous effort was blocked by a judge, his office said May 8 it filed an application for a temporary injunction against Annunciation House, accusing it of “systemic criminal conduct in Texas,” including facilitating illegal border crossings or concealing “illegally present aliens from law enforcement.” Annunciation House’s lawyer said those are false allegations.

In his earlier attempt to shut down Annunciation House, Paxton accused it of “human smuggling,” which was denounced by Catholic immigration advocates, including El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz.

The special week “encourages Catholics do their part to promote civility by recognizing the dignity of all people and inviting others to do the same,” the release said, adding that “through prayer, education and public action during Religious Freedom Week, the faithful can promote the essential right of religious freedom for Catholics and for those of all faiths.

The USCCB provides “Pray-Reflect-Act” resources at www.usccb.org/ReligiousFreedomWeek. Each day focuses on different religious liberty topics for prayer, reflection and action.

Once again, the Committee for Religious Liberty, in collaboration with the USCCB Secretariat of Catholic Education and Our Sunday Visitor Institute, hosted a religious liberty essay contest. Contestants were asked to share the story of a witness to freedom — a story of the people who inspire us. The top essays from the competition will be published during Religious Freedom Week at www.usccb.org/ReligiousFreedomWeek.

To connect with the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, text FREEDOM to 84576 and sign up for “First Freedom News,” the Committee for Religious Liberty’s monthly newsletter. The committee’s 2024 report on “The State of Religious Liberty in the United States,” issued in January, can be found at

Hamburg, June 11, 2024

Photo: hu-berlin.de     

Papyrologists have deciphered a manuscript fragment that went unnoticed for decades in a German university library.

Dr Lajos Berkes from the Institute for Christianity and Antiquity at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and Professor Gabriel Nocchi Macedo from the University of Liège in Belgium have identified the fragment from the University of Hamburg as coming from the so-called Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

The scholars date it to the 4th–5th century, making it the earliest surviving fragment of the apocryphal text. Previously, a codex from the 11th century was the earliest Greek version, reports the Humboldt University of Berlin.

The “Gospel” includes episodes supposedly from the childhood of Jesus. Though deemed apocryphal, the stories were popular in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, according to the university.

Early Church Fathers and writers referred to the text, deeming it apocryphal and even heretical. St. Irenaeus of Lyons called it spurious, Eusebius of Caesarea rejected it as heretical fiction, as did Pope St. Gelasius I.

“Our findings on this late antique Greek copy of the work confirm the current assessment that the Infancy Gospel according to Thomas was originally written in Greek,” says Macedo.

The fragment measures 11 x 5 centimeters, with a total of 13 lines in Greek, around 10 letters per line. Researchers believe it originates from late antique Egypt.

The fragment tells a story supposedly from Jesus’ childhood where He molds twelve sparrows out of clay, and after being rebuked by St. Joseph for doing such things on the Sabbath, claps His hands and brings the sparrows to life.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Christians should read Scripture often, every day if possible, and look to the Spirit if reading the Gospel ever feels dry, Pope Francis said.

Even when one has repeatedly read a Scripture passage “without particular emotion,” at the right time and in an atmosphere of faith and prayer ,”that text suddenly becomes illuminated, speaks to us, casts light on a problem we are experiencing, makes clear God’s will for us in a certain situation,” the pope said during his June 12 general audience.

“To what is this change due, if not an illumination of the Holy Spirit?” he asked. “The words of Scripture, under the action of the Spirit, become luminous.”

To begin his audience, the pope rode into St. Peter’s Square on the popemobile to the sound of bagpipes and drums played by the 38th (Irish) Brigade and the Royal Irish Regiment of the British army. The brigade visited the Vatican to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Rome from Nazi occupation and its June 12, 1944, audience with Pope Pius XII.

Continuing his catechesis series on the Holy Spirit, Pope Francis reflected on the role of the Spirit in revelation, which he said not only inspired Scripture but “explains it and makes it eternally alive and active.”

He said that the church “is nourished by reading Sacred Scripture, that is, reading done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who inspired it.”

At the center of the Gospel is the event of Christ’s death and resurrection, the pope said, which “unveils all the hidden mysteries and offers the true key to the Bible.”

“The death and resurrection of Christ is the light that illuminates the whole Bible and illuminates our life,” he said.

Pope Francis encouraged Christians to dedicate time each day to the practice of “lectio divina,” reading and meditating on the Gospel, and recommended they carry a pocket-sized copy of the Gospel with them to read in moments throughout the day.

Yet the best way to engage with the Gospel is through the liturgy, he said, in which “we see how an event or teaching given in the Old Testament finds its full realization in the Gospel of Christ.”

Homilies are then meant to transfer the Gospel reading “from the book to life,” the pope said, telling priests to keep their homilies under eight minutes.

“After that time, people lose attention, people fall asleep and they’re right” to do so, he said. Pope Francis noted that priests often “talk so much and no one understands what they’re talking about,” and he encouraged them to communicate to their congregants a thought, a feeling and a proposal for concrete action in their homilies.

In Gospel passages read during Mass or in the Liturgy of the Hours there is always a word or message “intended especially for us,” the pope said. “Embraced in our hearts, it can illuminate our day and animate our prayer. It is a matter of not letting it fall away.”

In his greetings to visitors, Pope Francis asked for prayers for Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar and the “many countries that are at war.”

“War is always, from day one, a defeat,” he said. “Let us pray for peace, that the Lord may give us strength to always fight for peace.”

Sânnicoară, Cluj County, Romania, June 11, 2024

Photo: Basilica News Agency     

More than 1,000 people, including children and adults, joined in a relay fundraiser towards the construction of a Church-run children’s palliative care center in Cluj County, Romania, on Saturday, June 8.

The Hearts of Gold Run event in Cluj was organized by the local branch of the Association of Romanian Orthodox Christian Students, with the support of the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleacu, and Cluj, for the benefit of the St. Christopher Palliative Care Center to be opened in the city of Sânnicoară, reports the Basilica News Agency.

The center aims to offer comprehensive assistance (medical, spiritual, social, and psychological), free of charge, to children with progressive chronic diseases that make survival to adulthood unlikely.

His Grace Bishop Benedict of Bistrița conveyed the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Andrei of Cluj and addressed participants with a short spiritual word, thanking them for their help.

There were two races: 5K for adults, and 800 meters for children under 14.

There were also workshops on archery, face painting, and more. The event concluded with an awards ceremony and a short performance by two musical groups.

The foundation stone of the future center was blessed on October 13, 2022, and construction has been continuing steadily.

Donations towards the construction can be made to the St. Nectarios Association in Cluj:

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

As the outcome of elections to the European Parliament became known, Catholic Church leaders voiced concern at the apparent loss of enthusiasm for European unity and the rise in support for nationalist parties.

“People are clearly dismayed by some decisions coming out of the European Union — they want issues of fundamental rights, human dignity, family, education and peace to be the real focus,” said Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, president of the Council of Catholic Episcopates of Europe, or CCEE, incorporating 33 bishops’ conferences.

“With mainstream, centrist parties still maintaining a majority, we must hope they’ll see this as a call for more attention to the issues which matter to people on the ground,” he said.

The archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania, was reacting to final results of the June 6-9 continent-wide ballot, the 10th since direct EU voting was introduced in 1979 and the first since Britain’s 2020 withdrawal from the EU.

In an OSV News interview, he said “overreaching attempts” by EU officials to legislate in areas reserved for individual member-states had caused a popular backlash, adding that he counted on newly elected members of Parliament to concentrate on “primary values important to everyone.”

Meanwhile, a Catholic bishop in Belgium told OSV News public dissatisfaction now posed a “huge challenge” for the EU, adding the church in his own country had wielded little influence with voters.

“I’m worried about what’s happening in some areas, and I don’t think voting for extremist parties offers an answer,” said Auxiliary Bishop Jean Kockerols of Belgium’s Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese and a veteran Europe watcher.

The bishop spoke as results in Belgium, which also staged national and regional elections, confirmed the victory of the nationalist New Flemish Alliance and Flemish Interest parties, with close to 40% of votes between them, far ahead of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s liberal seven-party coalition, which won fewer than 7%.

“EU officials haven’t invested enough time and energy in convincing citizens of the benefits of belonging to a larger reality than just their own countries — this is the key problem,” Bishop Kockerols said.

With 370 million people eligible to vote for the 720-seat Strasbourg, France-based Parliament, the elections also brought gains for nationalist and right-wing parties in Austria, German, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

However, while turnout was high in Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta, where voting is compulsory, it sank to 21.3% in Croatia and 28.9% in Lithuania, well below previous levels.

In a June 10 statement, the German president of the EU’s governing Commission, Ursula von Der Leyen, who is seeking a second five-year term, said her conservative European People’s Party bloc would pursue a coalition with liberal and social democratic parties.

However, with nationalist groups now holding a quarter of seats, up from a fifth in 2019, members of the EP are expected to adopt a tougher stance on areas from migration to climate change.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron announced snap parliamentary elections for June 30 after his governing centrist alliance was heavily defeated by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, which took over 32% on pledges to curb immigration and ban Muslim headscarves, while slashing energy taxes and boosting pensions.

Meanwhile, in Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party-led coalition came third behind the conservative Christian Democratic Union and far-right Alternative for Germany, Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen welcomed a “stable voter turnout” of 64.8%, but warned the German Catholic news agency, KNA, the rise of “right-wing populist forces” showed “democracy cannot be taken for granted.”

Auxiliary Bishop Léon Wagener of Luxembourg told OSV News he was relieved the elections had not brought a much-feared “massive shift to the right,” but said he was particularly alarmed by strong nationalist votes among young people.

“It’s a good sign most European citizens haven’t lost their democratic compass, and the new European Parliament will still have a majority of pro-European parties,” he said. “But there’s a great deal of uncertainty among young people about their professional and social prospects, and this will not be without consequences. There’s a lack of trust in decision-makers and institutions to change things for the better, while the gap between rich and poor widens in many member-states.”

All three bishops sit on the Brussels-based Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union or, COMECE, which signed a joint declaration in May with Protestant and Orthodox churches, warning that many European Christians felt “marginalized, as they do not have the opportunity to express their positions and opinions in an autonomous and distinct way.”

The declaration said successive crises over immigration, health, energy and economic life had also combined with current “devastating wars” to call into question “democratic principles and institutions,” adding that the exclusion of “any appropriate reference” to Christian values in EU texts suggested the Christian tradition was being overlooked.

In a brief June 10 statement, COMECE described the European Parliament elections as a “great exercise in democracy,” adding that most voters had still backed the “European project” and expressed a “strong desire for more Europe.”

A European Christian Political Movement, formed in 2002, claims to be the only formation “explicitly promoting Christian values” in the European Parliament, whose seven blocs include the Christian Democratic European People’s Party, headed by the German Manfred Weber, which will hold 189 seats, to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, led by the Spanish Iratxe García Pérez, which gained 135.

In his OSV News interview, Archbishop Grušas said receptiveness to the church’s message on family and citizenship issues varied from country to country, as many EU citizens looked for ways to have their “concern for fundamental values” addressed.

Meanwhile, Bishop Wagener said he had also heard “no reference” to the church’s position in preelection debates, suggesting its influence with voters was “very limited.”

“It’s regrettable that nationalist parties represent values such as those of the family more strongly than other centrist parties — tempting Catholics to vote for them,” the Luxembourg auxiliary told OSV News.

“The church’s task now is to keep a close eye on further political developments, rejecting anti-semitic tendencies in the strongest possible terms, and raising its voice in the reorganization of European asylum procedures to ensure inhumane conditions do not arise,” the bishop said.

“The church must also reject populist slogans that divide people into good and bad, and stand up radically in defense of human dignity,” Bishop Wagener added.