European Charter of Rights.

Biarritz--On October 15, the European Union voted approval of its Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Charter, though intended as a basis for a future European Constitution, has presently no status in law and could remain, as proposed by Great Britain, a simple declaration of principle.

Article 10 of the Charter recognizes the right of each person to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion". However, socialist French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin insisted on the deletion of references to Europe's Christian heritage from the preamble and this was done.

This change has been sharply criticized by various sources. In an October 16 message to the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, Pope John Paul stated that Europe's Christian heritage was not a thing of the past; it must be transmitted to future generations. Within France, Bishop Hippolyte Simon of Clermond-Ferrand set out his critique in an incisive article for the Le Monde newspaper. Spokesmen for the Bishops' Conference have backed his assertions with the statement that the deletion of "the very key that historically cemented European identity" is "neither culturally valid nor democratically positive."

Within the Vatican, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, noted that the brief family section was open to very broad interpretation. He said that the Charter upheld family values in theory, but as it could be used to promote the rights of homosexuals, it has "departed from the beaten track followed by the moral history of humanity." He added that it was regrettable that "God and our responsibility before God" had not been "anchored in the European constitution."

Addressing the November 3 Rome Ministerial Conference for the fiftieth anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Pope reminded EU leaders of their unity "which cannot be conceived without the religious and moral values which are the common heritage of all the European nations." He noted that "the true genius of Europe will emerge in a re-discovery of the human and spiritual wisdom intrinsic to the European heritage of respect for human dignity and the rights that stem from it."

The Holy Father commended the EU nations for their abolition of the death penalty. At the same time he insisted that they address the contradiction between this attitude and that of destroying innocent life in the womb; the relevant Charter clause does not recognize life as beginning at conception.

Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, also spoke out publicly against the deletion of Christian heritage references. He attributed the change to "reasons related to a certain secularism" and condemned it as "absurd." Noting Catholic criticisms on the life and family sections, Delors said those drawing up the Charter wanted to represent the changing values of modern Europe. He did, however, state that each national parliament of the EU would retain flexibility regarding the Charter's implementation among its own citizens; in other words it would be a simple declaration of good intentions without a binding character.

The Charter was officially proclaimed in Nice, France, at the December 7, 2000, EU summit, having been approved by the European Parliament on November 14. For the time being, it will not have legal status.