I have thought of using the title “Challenges and signs of hope for the church in Europe” as the Pope has entitled the first paragraph of the first chapter of the post synodal apostolical exhortation Ecclesia in Europa. 
Reading the list of “the problems which unite us” I’ve wondered what my contribution should be since I’m not an expert in any of these topics.The problems are the change from globalization to the process of European integration and from immigration to ecumenism. Then I’ve understood that my contribution could be one of a young, Christian, Catholic, western Europe woman in a Church, the Italian one, which has lived intensively Vatican II, and even though it has hardly continued to accept the Vatican Council’s prophecy in these 40 years, it has accepted to change. So my view is that of a person who simply lives in these times and asks herself questions, worries but also dreams. 
Through the Apocalypse by St. John, the post synodal exhortation published in June, tries to find out the signs of the times and to read this history of ours; bravely orientates, then, all the reflection through the category of hope. 

So hope becomes also for us the unavoidable key to look at this time. 
As European Christians, because of our hope, we have an added responsibility. Cardinal Kasper during one of the meetings held in July 2002 concluded his speech recalling the responsibility which Christians in Europe have. “Today hope is very rare. We suffer from a terrible lack of ideas which can inbue us with enthusiasm. The announcement of hope which results from faith is the most important contribution the Church can offer to the future of Europe. Without hope nobody can live : no individual no nation and not even Europe. This is the challenge and the mission of Christians today”. 
Assuming this attitude of hope means first of all to succeed in transforming these “problems which unite us” into “challenges” areas where our responsibility has to play a very important part. If we can face them with hope then our times will really be fruitful times, times when we can come out with positive dynamics, evangelical virtues in the society; then it will really be a time where Europe can become prophetic and in this way be at the service of the whole world of women and men. 
From problems to challenges: this is the first step which according to me has to be taken and which has to be undertaken by all women and men of our times. 
I would like to trace some aspects of hope which interlink “the challenges which unite us”. These challenges are not challenges which concern only the ecclesial community, lay people, priests… but they concern us as citizens, as men and women: only if we are able to consider them not as ” church matters” but as occasions for building bridges between social society and the ecclesial community. And it is simply the people who live around us who have the answers, not only in emergencies and in present day needs. They are the ones who can lay solid basis for the future. 

Globalization 
One of the first challenges which have been underlined is that of globalization.I do not want to give a definition of globalization because it is a very wide and debated question which has not yet been solved. Surely globalization is a process in which in fact we are immersed and which interests various spheres:politics, economy and culture.It is not only a process which creates interdependence but is also a process which compels us to open our eyes. The president of the European Commission Romano Prodi wrote:”Globalization, the encreasing interdependence among states and nations make it necessary for Europe to redifine itself and its role and each role in a new world contest. In fact exchanges are becoming more and more global . We are more and more dipendent on events and developments which take place in other parts of the world.” So if globalization is a fact it is therefore necessary to understand how we can live within it. The path of hope suggested in the 1998 Pope’s message on the occasion of the World Day of Peace “From each and everyone justice proceeds peace for all”: the solidarity of globalization. It can become a fertile soil for alliance, an occasion of grace in which peace and justice for all nations can be built. We have to resist the temptation of reducing the globalization of solidarity to mere assistance or to almsgiving. It should rather be a commitment for the diffusion of dynamics of humanizing man, society and history. It means working in favour of dignity. Involving ourselves as an ecclesial and civil community in working for a globalization of solidarity means becoming participants and constructors of that civilization of truth and peace requested by Paul VI which is an anticipation of the Kingdom. 
The means at our disposal are many:firstly Europe, about which I will speak later, we also have the UN in favour of which we should commit ourselves may be much more than we have done these last years, so that it can be reformed and thus it can operate according to the valid project which it represents. 
But not only, during the Iraq war we have seen an unusual phenomenon: the mobilization of the public opinion in Europe as against the choices made by governments. This is a sign which has to be read carefully: it has witnessed a transversal convergence of peace themes which throw a hopeful light on the cultural climate prevalent in Europe. 

Europe as a potential 
In this perspective the reflection on Europe also finds its place. It is truly a great possibility which has presented itself at the moment to create alliances of solidarity, for example between East and West Europe, alliances which can be prophetic as regards the cry of the despair which comes from the south of the world. It is a project which, as the Pope says in Ecclesia in Europa, “should become active and carry out a globalization in solidarity.Together with this, as a result of it, a sort of globalization of solidarity and interlinked values of equity, justice and liberty follow. Europeans should infatiguably commit themselves to work for peace within their borders and in the whole world.” It is thus the opportune time for us Europeans and we should try to make the best of it. 
Europe is a time and a meeting place of a diversity of cultures. 
Europe is a time and a place of dialogue among different religions. 
Europe is a time and a place of reconciliation among the different Christian confessions.
And as Christians we should strongly feel our responsibility as regards this time. This responsibility is calling us even with the skills we have at our disposal. As the Pope says in Ecclesia in Europa :” a presence of Christians well prepared and competent in the various European instances and institutions is necessary in order to give a contribution as regards the correct democratic dynamisms and the confrontation of the proposals, to outline a European ability to live together which respects every man and woman and as such conforms to the common good.” In this perspective one must also put in a reflection not only as a church but also as an association. This reflection could be the areas in which we can apply this responsibility, the projects, initiatives, formation meetings and partecipation at this very important moment to build the future. 

Immigration 
Immigration is one of those challenges which we look upon very easily as a problem especially in the west. There is a culture which is not orientated and the law does not even support the idea that an immigrant should be regarded as a person to be welcomed; on the contrary very often he is simply considered as a person who “serves”. The perspective which very often goes with the phenomenon of immigration is purely utilitarian. We welcome those immigrants who can contribute to our economy. The immigrant is accepted in so far as he can join the workforce. This mentality is disgraceful. 
A Christian should be scandalized by all this in view of the passage in Saint Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus reminds us that in the last judgment those who have welcomed a stranger have welcomed Him. How can we forget the beautiful words in the Letter to the Hebrews which say “don’t forget hospitality; some, practicing it, have welcomed some angels without knowing it.” Welcoming strangers, which we cannot reduce solely as assistentialism, puts Christians in relation with the mistery of the Kingdom, with the revelation of God in history. 
Welcoming, hospitality, pastoral care for Christian immigrants, dialogue with other religions: here are some ways of hope to which we can dedicate our responsibility and where we can work to build fraternity. The subject of this morning’s meeting is “the problems which unite us”. The risk is that of stopping only on the first word “the problems”, or the challenges as I have tried to do and forgetting the rest of the phrase: “unite us”. The clear reading , as far as possible, of reality either helps us to build communion and fraternity or remains something sterile. So during our discussion we should remember that the perspective with which we should look at these challenges is that of one who wishes to be with others at this time. 

New evangelization 
In these last years we are getting aware that Europe is a mission land. It is so because of the high rate of immigration since it is a sought for landing place. But, above all, it is so because of the increasing shifting away from Christianity due mainly to the advancement of the secularisation process. The situation is complex: on one part Europe requires a first announcement, on the other it needs also a new announcement, a new evangelization, that is a new way of evangelization which knows how to go into a profound dialogue with today’s culture. New evangelization: a problem of the “quality” of announcement able to repropose the good news in convincing terms for the man of today. 
It cannot be only a problem of the Catholic church but it must preoccupy all Christian churches. It is an itinerary of hope because it entrusts a very important duty to the ecumenical movement which can also benefit from it. 

The Charta Oecumenica published only two years ago which has been an important move on ecumenical reflection, hasn’t found in these years a diffusion able to grasp its ability to prophecy as regards the unity of churches. This is an area where we are asked to invest more even as an association, and where we are called to create a mentality and to form the young generations. 
Europe can, in this be truly prophetic for the whole world and it can open unknown ways of announcement. As Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini says:” our situation in Europe is once again forward looking. It shows that it is possible to live in a highly technological and sociologically secularised society not only without denying the Christian faith but experimenting its significance in contemporary situations. The new contribution which we are being called to give to the new churches, which within 15 or 20 years will have to face the same problem, will be the practical demonstration of the possibility of searching for God even in a secularised society.” 
The ecumenical prospective is the only one which can help in this need for new evangelization. At the same time the new evangelization can become a significant area for a new urge in the ecumenical movement, a reciprocal help among believers in Christ to live their faith today. 
These are only some of the courses of hope which can begin from the challenges which history presents to us. I think that the real challenge is essentially a cultural challenge. As the Church, it means that we should sow the seed of a culture which focuses on the dignity of man so that he can reconcile himself with creation and with other men. Affirming the importance of Christian roots in Europe is very important and today for us our being rooted means that we have to decide which changes we need to make,which horizons we should share with all men and women. 

At Toronto the Pope has entrusted us young people with the task of building a society of peace and love. Building a society means building a sharing culture,values, institutions, rules and meanings. But all this cannot come about with violence – even if only a cultural violence – because it would lead us to ideology. It must be a cultural conversion built on peace, welcoming and on dialogue. This cultural conversion is our duty as Christians not only as a responsibility towards Europe but it could also become a gift which we can share with all men. It could go beyond the borders and open ways of planetarian dignity. The mobilization of the European public opinion as regards the Iraq war is a very beautiful sign that dialogue on the big issues which concern the common good is still open and can be built with all men and women. We should create a mentality, operate practices which bring about peace and solidarity. This is our responsibility today as Christians: To be weavers of fraternity, unity and in dialogue, untireable announcers of hope.

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III European-Mediterranean Continental Meeting
FOR A FRATERNAL EUROPE. The contribution of Catholic Action •Sarajevo, September 3rd-7th 2003