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The major superiors of the Jesuits in Europe and the Near East have issued a joint statement calling for solidarity across the continent in this experience of the coronavirus pandemic, which “has strengthened the awareness of all the peoples of Europe of a bond of interconnectedness that links us all”.

They said this awareness of interconnectedness must result in “a firm resolve to dedicate one’s life and energy to serving the common good” and a “transform[ation of] the structures of sin that damage relationships between individuals and peoples into structures of solidarity, through legislation, regulation, and legal systems”.

The major superiors see the current crisis as a spiritual opportunity for conversion. “We cannot, either as individuals or as polities, hope to return to the ‘old normal’. We must seize the moment to work for radical change inspired by our deepest convictions,” they said.

In their statement, the Jesuits raised a few lessons that the pandemic has taught Europe and the world. Foremost is that “we cannot live healthily on a sick planet”. They stressed that Europe must rethink the present model of globalsation and step up its commitment to ensure solidarity with the poor, and the protection of the natural environment and future generations.

The crisis has also revealed the challenges of pan-European solidarity in practice. “The initial reflex was ‘every country for itself’. But we know we are all in the same situation: we will sink or swim together,” they said. They appealed to the institutions of the European Union to overcome the current lack of appetite for international solidarity foreseeing that the economic and social fallout of the pandemic will entail some redistribution of wealth from richer to poorer countries.

In relation, the major superiors pointed to the situation of the Global South and the havoc that the virus might yet wreak in countries that lack resources to protect themselves. They appealed for the “cancellation of the debt of poorer countries, more humanitarian aid, and development cooperation, with military spending redirected towards health and social services”.

“European solidarity prefigures global solidarity,” they said. This solidarity, they added, must extend urgently to refugees and asylum seekers, whom, as Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ put it, “arrived in Europe physically but not humanly”.

Recalling the words of Pope Francis on Easter Sunday that, “the European Union is currently facing an epochal challenge, on which will depend not only its future but that of the whole world”, the major superiors expressed their support for European institutions working for the recovery of Europe and the whole world from the pandemic. “May God grant you success in building a new Europe of genuine warmth and solidarity,” they said.

Read the full statement of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials here.