From Rorate Cæli
TRIBUNE CHRÉTIENNE: Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: "Young People Want to Change the Way Europe Views Christianity"
In a lengthy exclusive interview granted to Tribune Chrétienne, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith offers a reflection on the dechristianization of Europe and the challenges facing the Church. Faced with the rise of political Islam, he calls on Catholics to rediscover their own spiritual identity rather than favor confrontation. He sees in the exceptional mobilization of young people during Pope Leo XIV's journeys to France and Spain a sign of hope for the renewal of Christianity. He also addresses the traditional liturgy, doctrinal controversies, the Islamist attacks of Easter 2019 in Sri Lanka, and relations between the Holy See and China.
Tribune Chrétienne: France and much of Europe are undergoing a profound dechristianization. Viewed from Asia, how do you explain this decline?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: I have maintained close ties with Europe for nearly fifty years, and I have witnessed a rapid and tragic process of dechristianization on this continent that I love deeply. When I first visited a Catholic German city and took part, as a seminarian, in its Sunday liturgy in 1973, I discovered a church filled with the faithful. The pews were occupied by entire families who sang with strength and enthusiasm and responded to the prayers.
It was a lively and joyful experience for everyone. There were the Schott missals and the majestic pipe organs. But what I see today are many empty pews, occupied mainly by elderly people or very young children, and a liturgical participation that seems devoid of life. Very few young people attend these churches now.
With the expansion of secularism, Western societies have gradually become dechristianized.
This process was also accelerated by a theological revolution that swept away the solid pillars of Catholic theology. The forms of worship, the moral principles, and the hierarchical structure that characterized the Church before the war were considerably weakened as a result. The secularist adventure, with the immanentism that follows from it, the despiritualization, and the drift toward individualism, hedonism, and minimalism, has led to a loss of value in human life and of its nobility.
The American writer and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, speaking of this development, wrote:
"Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity and regards his life as an investment that must bring him the maximum profit possible under existing market conditions."(The Art of Living, Unwin Books, 1972, pp. 63–64.) He also wrote: "Modern man possesses everything: a car, a house, a job, children, a marriage, problems, difficulties, satisfactions, and, if all that is not enough, he has his psychoanalyst. But he is nothing." (Revolution of Hope, Bantam Books, Harper and Row, October 1968, p. 87.)
Meanwhile, Europe is going through a serious demographic crisis, while extremism is raising its head. Can it truly overcome this situation? Yes, I believe it can. But it must undertake a serious examination of conscience in the light of its history and its philosophical and spiritual roots, and adopt a more lucid attitude toward what has happened. Moreover, Europe is no longer Christian, given the presence within it of a large number of non-Christians. The Church should lead this process of reflection. She cannot continue to be content with the present situation, thinking that things will improve automatically.
A new spiritual, theological, and pastoral approach should be tried. Ecclesiastical leaders must live a life closer to their faithful, simple, deeply pastoral, and in keeping with the dignity of their office. Unfortunately, scandals have also damaged the cause of the Gospel in these Churches in recent years. In addition, many European Churches levy a "church tax," which is not in keeping with the teaching of Christ. It would be preferable to give it up and make this contribution voluntary. This would allow the Church to depend more on her faithful than on her properties and investments. This decision might cause some initial difficulties, but it would be the most appropriate way of bearing witness to Christ and of remaining authentically faithful to the spirit of his teaching.
The post-synodal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Europa, of June 28, 2003, states: "Europe needs to make a qualitative leap in becoming aware of its spiritual heritage. This impetus can come only from a renewed hearing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the responsibility of all Christians to commit themselves to responding to this hunger and thirst for life."(Ecclesia in Europa, no. 120.)
Tribune Chrétienne: As Christianity recedes, political Islam is asserting itself in several European countries. How do you view this development?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: There is nothing strange about this situation, and it does not necessarily result from a deliberate plan. It is a natural process. Christian societies are gradually declining because they absorb secular values and make political choices based on them, while the other religions present on the continent do not share the same fascination with secularism. They base their life choices on their beliefs, which is right and natural. Secularized society is dualistic, because it holds that a person can adhere to a religion without being bound to put into practice, in the public sphere, the values that flow from it.
Thus, at one moment you are a believer, but the next moment you are compelled to act against your deepest spiritual convictions. This is the dichotomy with which secularists are confronted. It is a conception that often obliges the individual to act against his innermost conscience. It depersonalizes him and leads him to live a "double life."
Islam and the other religions present in Europe or in the West do not accept such a contradiction as realistic or honest. Europe should therefore learn from them in order to understand where it went astray.
Islam would show us Christians how "false" we have become. An attitude of "asserting oneself firmly" toward Islam or the other religions is becoming increasingly visible in European society. This is not what the Catholic community should do. It is not by adopting laws or by imposing secularist practices on "others" that Catholics should respond to this situation.
Nor should extremist methods be used against the followers of these religions. What is called for is an honest and sincere examination of conscience, on the part of pastors and faithful alike in our Churches, in order to recognize the mistaken choices made in the past that have led to this sad situation.
Courageous and deeply spiritual measures must then be taken to renew faith in God and in Jesus, our Savior, and to return to the true values of the Gospel, as the Lord himself asks of us.
Tribune Chrétienne: Last September, Pope Leo XIV made his first apostolic journey to France, marked by an exceptional mobilization of the faithful, especially young people. What is your view of this visit?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: Pope Leo XIV's journey to France was a resounding success. The same was true of his visit to Spain. What is particularly remarkable in these two journeys, made to two of the European nations most marked by secularism, is the joyful and fervent participation of hundreds of thousands of young people. They clearly showed the world that they deeply wish to change the way Europe regards religion, and Christianity in particular. They expressed without any ambiguity their desire to see a more human, more spiritual, and authentically transformed world emerge, in which religious values give meaning to their existence.
This seems to reflect a certain weariness with the way secularism and its values have directed the continent. Young people seem to be telling us: "We need a world animated by spiritual values, by authenticity, true fraternity, justice, and social harmony."
I believe that Pope Leo XIV, by his inimitable style, his simplicity, and his spiritual witness, has already given a very positive impetus to the process of renewal of the continent. The appeal he makes in his very first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, to "renounce building a new tower of Babel and join our forces to build the common good, so that humanity may never lose its beauty and the world may again recognize in the human heart the place where God desires to dwell"(Magnifica Humanitas, no. 16) is an appeal to which these young people will gradually respond with an ever deeper commitment.
The Church leaders of these countries should recognize in this development a gift of God and reconsider their theological and pastoral choices, looking to the future with determination and hope. They should do everything in their power to restore a spiritual dimension to the lives of their faithful.
The Church must speak to Europe the language of God, the language of love, and not simply that of the tower of Babel, of its structures, its riches, or its political power.
Tribune Chrétienne: You held important responsibilities within the Congregation for Divine Worship under Benedict XVI. As many young Catholics rediscover the sense of the sacred, Gregorian chant, and, for some, the traditional liturgy, how do you interpret this phenomenon?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: The apparent movement by which young people turn away from a hedonistic conception of existence toward a more spiritual vision of life, particularly in the Western world or, let us say, in the economically most prosperous societies, is the natural consequence of a conviction: joy and happiness cannot come from economic prosperity alone.
The whole difference lies in the extent to which we human beings can find this joy or happiness in "having" rather than in "being." The consumerist social and economic system that has largely taken hold of human life does not constitute a true universe of values, because it offers no deep meaning to existence. It provides only physical satisfaction. It is like a mirage in the desert. This was also Jesus' teaching concerning material goods.
He showed us how vain it is to regard riches and fortune as the path to personal fulfillment. Jesus taught us how to lead a heroic and joyful life, a life bearing meaning and fullness. He warned us against the temptation to regard wealth or its accumulation as the source of eternity and of endless joy (Lk 12:18–21; Lk 18:18–25).
Europe should rediscover its historical and cultural roots, in particular its link with Christianity. It was sad to see that, despite the repeated appeals of Pope Saint John Paul II, the leaders of the European Union decided not to mention the Judeo-Christian roots of its history, its culture, and its development in the preamble to its Constitution. To put it simply, this attitude resembles that of someone who "discards the ladder after using it to climb."
Europe must seek its spiritual roots, particularly the fidelity to Jesus and the discipleship it had embraced from the first centuries of the Christian era. Unfortunately, the Western Church has succumbed to the temptation of despair and lack of faith, abandoning its own spiritual and liturgical heritage in the belief that it was enough to go with the flow. This is a mistake.
Christianity, or the teaching of Jesus, is nonconformist and always new. It cannot be fossilized in this or that philosophy or this or that current of thought. The Church must allow herself to be swallowed up neither by modernism nor by traditionalism. She must present the teaching of Jesus the Lord as the way to happiness in the present life as well as in the life to come.
She must give humanity the hope of the Kingdom of God, which is the source of all hope.
This Kingdom "is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of persevering with sobriety day by day, without losing the ardor of hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest selves, we await: a life that is truly life." (Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi, no. 31.)
Tribune Chrétienne: In Germany in particular, certain currents within the Church wish to modify her teaching on homosexuality, sexual morality, or the ordination of women. How far can the Church evolve on these questions without calling into question the doctrine she has received?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: The ultimate criterion of any doctrinal or moral position can be none other than the teaching of Jesus himself, as it has been transmitted to us in the four Gospels.
As we know from the teaching of Jesus, his moral demands can be considered very rigorous. For example, speaking of lust, Jesus declares: "Whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Mt 5:28.) We find the same rigor on the question of divorce, concerning which Jesus affirms: "Whoever divorces his wife, except in the case of an illegitimate union, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Mt 5:32.) We find the same teaching in Mark 10:11–12 and Luke 16:18. The point is that the very words of Jesus and his moral demands, which concern a whole range of social and personal choices, cannot be altered according to the whims or preferences of anyone, not even the pastors of the Church.
When Pope Saint John Paul II rendered his definitive decision concerning the priestly ordination of women, he affirmed:
"The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call was made according to God's eternal plan: Christ chose those whom he willed (cf. Mk 3:13–14; Jn 6:70), and he did so in union with the Father, 'through the Holy Spirit' (Acts 1:2), after having spent the night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12). Therefore, in admitting to the ministerial priesthood (LG 28), the Church has always acknowledged as a permanent norm the manner of acting of her Lord in the choice of the twelve men whom he established as the foundation of his Church (cf. Rev 21:14).
These men did not in fact receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any member of the Church; they were specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1–7; 28:16–20; Mk 3:13–16; 16:14–15).
The Apostles did the same when they chose their collaborators (cf. 1 Tim 3:1–13; 2 Tim 1:6; Titus 1:5–9), who were to succeed them in their ministry. This choice also included those who, throughout the history of the Church, would continue the mission of the Apostles by representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer." (Cf. Lumen Gentium, nos. 20–21; Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1577.) The conclusion of that document was clear.
Pope Saint John Paul II solemnly affirmed: "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, no. 4, May 22, 1994, the Solemnity of Pentecost.)
A subsequent clarification specified that this declaration was to be regarded by all Catholics as an ex cathedrapronouncement. It is therefore clear that no authority in the Church, whether a synodal council or an episcopal conference, possesses the power or the mandate to alter the doctrine, morality, or ecclesial practice willed by Jesus, on the sole authority of a local bishop, an episcopal conference, or a synodal assembly, particularly when this contravenes the teachings and ethical demands of Christ.
This principle applies equally to the Church in Germany and to that of any other country.
Certain questions, notably those concerning ecclesial governance and communion, may be decided by a local episcopal conference or a synodal body. But these bodies cannot decide to alter what Christ himself demanded, nor what pertains to the faith and morals of the Church that flow from it. Moreover, Western nations cannot decide on their own questions of doctrine, morality, and ministries without reference to the rest of the Church.
Tribune Chrétienne: On September 4, you called on the Catholics of Sri Lanka to pray the Rosary so that the whole truth about the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019 might at last come to light. Seven years later, what remains to be discovered, and what do you hope to obtain through this spiritual mobilization?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: At first glance, the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019 seemed to have been perpetrated by a group of young Sri Lankan Islamists animated by an extreme hatred of Christians. These attacks were carried out on April 21, 2019 at three places of worship, two Catholic churches in Colombo and a Pentecostal church in the eastern city of Batticaloa, as well as at three major tourist hotels in Colombo. They caused the death of 273 people, including foreign tourists, and left more than 500 injured, some suffering permanent disabilities. It was a terrible tragedy. All these churches were completely destroyed.
The Holy Father, Pope Francis, when he learned this sad news, not only expressed his closeness to the victims and the Catholic community, but also supported financially, through a substantial contribution, the rehabilitation program for the victims and their families.
He even arranged a meeting with a group of victims who had been seriously injured in this violence, which was held at the Vatican on April 25, 2022. In this whole affair, the essential imperative was to discover what had really happened and who had orchestrated these attacks. Was it solely these extremist suicide bombers, or was there something else behind the attacks? In fact, rumors of a political plot began to circulate almost immediately after the attacks.
The fact that the local political leaders, as well as the senior officials of the national security apparatus, did absolutely nothing to prevent these attacks, even though they had received four advance warnings from Indian intelligence, as early as April 4 of that year, together with their indifferent attitude in the face of demands for a transparent and prompt investigation, helped to reinforce these suspicions among the population.
Certain elements emerged suggesting that these attacks did indeed have a political dimension.
These suspicions were reinforced when Mr. Hamzeer Moulana, secretary to a former minister and member of parliament, Mr. Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan, nicknamed Pillayan, publicly asserted, in a program broadcast on September 5, 2023 on the British channel Channel 4, that these attacks were part of a plot organized by a section of military intelligence, led by Mr. Suresh Saleh.
According to his accusations, the objective was to ensure the victory of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the presidential election scheduled for November 2019. He had been Secretary of Defense during the final phases of Sri Lanka's civil war.
Mr. Moulana claimed that military intelligence had regularly paid funds, through him, to the suicide bomber Zaharan Hashim and his group, and that they had helped this terrorist organization prepare the bomb attacks. According to him, the instigators of this plot believed that such attacks would provoke a wave of anti-Muslim anger among the Sinhalese majority and push it to vote for Mr. Rajapaksa, a supporter of a hard line of Sinhalese nationalism, thereby ensuring his election to the presidency.
Despite the disclosure of these elements, the powerful Rajapaksa camp organized a resistance aimed at denying any truth to these accusations.
In fact, after winning that election, Mr. Rajapaksa did everything in his power to block the investigations or to divert them from any possible responsibility on his part in these attacks. Even after a popular uprising drove him from power, the president elected by Mr. Rajapaksa's political party, which held the majority in Parliament, continued this same strategy of sabotaging the investigations.
In 2024, a new government came to power, having promised to conduct a fair investigation of this massacre. It launched a more transparent and more credible inquiry. However, the defeated political group, which wished to conceal everything, began to wage a campaign intended to disrupt the ongoing investigations and to exonerate Mr. Saleh and his associates of any responsibility for these killings.
They continue to multiply legal battles, public demonstrations, and media campaigns.
They even used the Colombo General Hospital, where Mr. Saleh, who was not cooperating with the investigators, feigned illness and was hospitalized for more than one hundred days. All of this was intended to weaken, disrupt, block, and even harass the investigators and their investigations as much as possible, in order to prevent the truth from coming to light.
This is why we have called on our Catholic faithful to pray with even greater intensity, in order to ask for divine help in overcoming this situation.
Tribune Chrétienne: After the civil war, the 2019 attacks, and successive political and economic crises, how is the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka doing today?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: The political and economic crisis that struck Sri Lanka after the civil war and the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019 convinced a growing number of people that our country needed radical political change. Indeed, almost all the political leaders who have succeeded one another since 1948 have gradually allowed our homeland to sink into disunity and open conflict, economic chaos, deep corruption, indiscipline, inequality, and even attempts at political interference in the functioning of the judiciary and in the faithful application of the rule of law.
In 2024, the country chose a new government that promised a new political start, based on transparent governance, honesty, rigorous respect for the rule of law, and a forward-looking vision. A new beginning has thus been set in motion, and the Church must contribute, to the fullest extent of her ability, to this transformation toward greater righteousness and a genuine democracy. The Church must also confront new challenges, because the process of secularization, which is affecting the whole world in the economic and social spheres, has begun to affect her as well, giving rise to new pastoral problems. Secularism is a conception that seeks to destroy the human soul and that envisions happiness in terms of material wealth, prosperity, and the satisfaction of personal desires.
It establishes a culture of "having" rather than a culture of "being." The local Catholic Church is doing all she can to remain faithful to the Lord's call to strengthen the faith of her brothers. The challenges are many. However, our country, Sri Lanka, deeply Asian in spirit and therefore heir to the intense religiosity of the ancient religious traditions, continues to resist secularism and the spiritual deprivations that follow from it.
Our faithful are deeply shaped by a cultural and spiritual environment formed by Asian religiosity. There is thus a deeply rooted thirst for spiritual coherence. In this context, priestly and religious vocations remain relatively numerous. In our parishes, relations between priests and faithful are closer. A significant proportion of parishioners continue to attend Sunday Mass, to receive the sacraments, and to remain attached to their spiritual traditions.
Family life remains strong, even if it too encounters difficulties. We have a highly developed network of small Christian communities that meet every week or every two weeks to share the Word of God and pray together. We are now moving toward a synodal approach to ecclesial life, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father. We must nevertheless continue to show vigilance and prudence in our pastoral approach to the faithful. We will need to take care to preserve and develop prayer, the faithful celebration of the sacraments, and the close ties between pastors and their communities.
Tribune Chrétienne: The Holy See continues its dialogue with Beijing, while the freedom of Chinese Catholics remains a sensitive question. How can this dialogue be reconciled with the defense of those who have at times paid a very high price for their fidelity to the Church?
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: This is fundamentally a question that must be resolved through dialogue. China is a nation composed of many ethnic groups and religions. Politically, preserving the unity of this great nation has always been a particularly sensitive question on the emotional and cultural levels. It is preferable to leave questions of this nature to be settled by the local Church leaders and the political authorities, since any outside interference could complicate matters.
Only those who practice the Catholic faith in China can truly know what the best way of resolving this situation is. The universal Church should play only a discreet role and help foster greater openness on both sides.
The aim is to encourage the Chinese government and the local Catholic Church, both in its officially organized form and in its underground component, to establish a process of dialogue capable of leading to a solution.
Interview conducted by Philippe Marie [SOURCE]
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