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Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has urged Catholics to remain steadfast in their faith and trust in the Church, even as Europe undergoes significant religious and demographic changes.
“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” Schönborn said.
Speaking to Famille Chrétienne, a French Catholic magazine, Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, highlighted the growing secularisation and rise of Islam in Europe.
The Cardinal stated that Europe’s population is changing due to declining birth rates and increasing immigration.
“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” Cardinal Schönborn stated.
Fraternal rapprochement
However Schönborn pointed out that, despite these shifts, Catholics should trust in the Church’s enduring role.
He referenced the 12,000 baptisms in France this year as a sign of hope and grace at work.
The cardinal called the idea that France and Europe are “no longer Christian” because of Islam’s influence “absurd”.
“If Catholics have left the Church, we should not be surprised that they are in the minority” he suggested.
He then called for Catholics to return to the Church and encouraged a “fraternal rapprochement” with Islam, echoing Pope Francis’ views.
“Both our religions have an absolute appeal.
“For Muslims, God has demanded that the whole world be subjected to him and the Koran.
“As for Christ, he has entrusted us with a universal mission: ‘Make disciples of all nations.’
“Neither of them can therefore renounce their mission. But the Christians’ way of acting is not that of the Koran but the following of Christ in all dimensions of our lives” Schönborn said.
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