Top cardinal's new book calls for Europe to return to its Christian roots

By: DAVID McHUGH - Associated Press | Wednesday, April 13, 2005 10:50 PM PDT ∞

BERLIN -- The dean of the College of Cardinals that will choose the next pope published a new book Wednesday calling on Europe to return to its Christian roots and condemning gay marriage, divorce and the possibility of human cloning.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's book, published in German by the Herder publishing house under the title "Values in a Time of Upheaval," says Europe's Christian heritage is the key to respect for human dignity and to the continent's survival as a civilization.

"Europe needs a new -- certainly skeptical and humble -- acceptance of itself, if it wants to survive," the German-born Ratzinger wrote, according to excepts published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "The ever more passionately demanded multiculturalism is often above all a renunciation of what is one's own, a fleeing from what is one's own."

He said people can respect the faith and culture of others only when they remain true to their own, "only when what is holy, God, is not alien to us ourselves."

European integration as represented by the European Union has become a mostly economic project, he wrote, "with far-reaching exclusion of the spiritual foundations of such a society."

Ratzinger, who has published a number of other books, served as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 until the April 2 death of Pope John Paul II. In that role he was the church's guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy.

The book sharply criticizes secular trends that contradict Catholic teaching about marriage and reproduction.

"Marriage and family are essential for European identity," he wrote.

The possibility of human cloning and what he calls "genetic manipulation" represent to him "the quiet wasting away of human dignity."

As dean of the College of Cardinals, he will open the conclave of 115 members beginning Monday to choose a new pope. He has been mentioned as a potential choice for pope himself.

A rigorously conservative guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy, Ratzinger, 77, is considered one of the front-runners among Vatican experts who believe the cardinals will want an elderly, likely short-tenure, pontiff after John Paul II's 26-year run.

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that at least 40 cardinals have voiced some backing for Ratzinger. Another newspaper, La Repubblica, put the number of possible Ratzinger backers at 50.

The reports could not be independently verified. The cardinals have agreed not to talk to the media until after the conclave, and the pre-conclave meetings are private. To become pope, a candidate needs a two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.

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