Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny, 2024, R. 32, Nr 1

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Europe in the Prisoner’s Dock? The Signposts of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s for the Old Continent
Papciak, Kazimierz F. (Papieski Wydział Teologiczny we Wrocławiu, 2024)
Harmony of the European ethos based on an appropriate system of values should be achieved as a historical necessity for the 21st century Europe. The current lack of this harmony, which can be brought down to a number of reasons, leads to an identity crisis and as such is a cause of concern for Christians. Therefore, Joseph Ratzinger asks a provocative question: “what are the essential mistakes of Europe that have brough it to the prisoner’s dock today?” This is the main research question of this article posed in the context of reflections and teaching of Joseph Ratzinger/ Benedict XVI. This question urges to make an examination of conscience and prompts questions to be further addressed, concerning the depreciation of Europe’s Christinan roots, the negation of natural law as a source of values or the dictatorship of ethical relativism that supports a social chaos. As a result, the idea of Europe today – according to Ratzinger – “has falled into a strange twilight” and its ethos that has been the strength of the Old Continent for centuries is being destroyed. What is necessary and urgent is a re-Europeanisation of Europe based on strong and sound axiological foundations.