Seine Heiligkeit Papst Franziskus

Europe's common spiritual heritage, the values based on our Judeo-Christian roots, which were complemented by the rich influences of Greek and Roman culture, the Carolingian Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the norms of democracy, respect for the uniqueness of the human being, his dignity and inalienable rights, are the evolved foundations of European understanding, which were rooted in the fervent desire for peace.

On the ruins of two world wars, over the past seven decades, Europeans have created an area of respect for human dignity and civil liberties, of democracy and the rule of law. A system of tolerance and respect for others; a system in which human rights are the decisive point of reference.
The power of the desire for an end to oppression and respect for human rights to transcend borders has been demonstrated many times in the history of European unification. And it is no coincidence that Greece joined the European Communities after overcoming military dictatorship, Spain after Francoism and Portugal after the ‘Carnation Revolution’, or that the states of Central Eastern Europe saw their future from the outset under the umbrella of the European Union after the collapse of communism and its totalitarian regimes. They did not seek first and foremost to join a Europe of economic prosperity, but rather a Europe of shared values.

Meanwhile, it is impossible to ignore the fact that over the past seven years the European Union has experienced weaknesses, crises and setbacks that are now overshadowing many of the achievements of the integration process and that have one main consequence: a dramatic loss of trust. At this time when many citizens in Europe are seeking direction, His Holiness Pope Francis is sending a message of hope and encouragement, a message of ‘hope based on the confidence that difficulties can become powerful promoters of unity, overcoming all the fears that Europe is experiencing, together with the whole world’ and an ‘encouragement to return to the firm conviction of the founding fathers of the European Union, who wanted a future based on the ability to work together to overcome divisions and promote peace and community among all the peoples of the continent. At the centre of this ambitious political plan was trust in man, not so much as a citizen or even as an economic subject, but as a person endowed with transcendent dignity.’

The Board of Directors of the Society for the Conferring of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is honoured to be able to award the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen to His Holiness Pope Francis in 2016 in recognition of the outstanding messages and signs that his pontificate has set for peace and understanding, for mercy, tolerance, solidarity and the preservation of creation.

‘The time has come to build together a Europe that is not centred on the economy, but on the sacredness of the human person and inalienable values; a Europe that bravely embraces its past and looks to the future with confidence in order to live its present fully and with hope. The time has come to abandon the idea of a Europe that is fearful and closed in on itself, to awaken and promote a Europe that is a protagonist and a bearer of science, art, music, human values and also of faith. A Europe [...] that looks at man, defends him and protects him; a Europe that advances on sure and solid ground, a precious point of reference for all humanity!’

When Pope Francis concluded his historic address to the European Parliament with these words in November 2014, he had previously made a very urgent appeal to the MEPs to place human dignity and the ideals of Europe's founding fathers at the centre of their actions and to contribute as legislators to ensuring that the great potential of the European idea, which is the envy of large parts of the world, is not squandered.

II.
His Holiness Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, the son of Italian immigrants; in addition to his Argentine citizenship, he also retained his Italian citizenship. Initially trained as a chemical technician, he decided to become a priest and joined the Society of Jesus in 1958.
He studied humanities in Chile and philosophy at the Colegio de San José in San Miguel near Buenos Aires; from 1964 to 1966 he taught literature and psychology in Santa Fé and Buenos Aires. On 13 December 1969, he was ordained a priest – shortly before completing his theological studies, which he had begun in 1967. After the tertianship, a period of probation customary in the order, which he spent mostly in Spain, and the taking of solemn perpetual vows, he became the head (‘Provincial’) of the Jesuit order in Argentina (until 1979).
From 1980 to 1986, he was rector of the Colegio de San José, followed by a stay of several months at the Jesuit University of St. Georgen in Frankfurt/Main, before becoming spiritual director (spiritual director, confessor) of the El Salvador College in Buenos Aires and later in Córdoba. On 20 May 1992, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires and Titular Bishop of Auca by Pope John Paul II. He became Vicar General of the archdiocese in 1993, and in June 1997 was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires, becoming Archbishop of Buenos Aires in February 1998. He was created a cardinal in 2001. From 2005 to 2011, he chaired the Argentinean Bishops' Conference.
After Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was finally elected on 13 March 2013 as the 266th Bishop of Rome and the new Pope. He was the first native of Latin America and the first member of the Jesuit order to be elected.

III.
His choice of name and his first public appearance just a few minutes after the conclave already revealed his understanding of his office: a modest manner and an extraordinary closeness to people – especially to those who need help.
His first official trip as head of the Church took him to Lampedusa at the beginning of July 2013 to commemorate the boat refugees who had died, ‘to make a gesture of closeness, but also to shake our consciences so that what happened will not be repeated’. And he asked: ‘Who wept for these people who were in the boat? The young mothers carrying their babies? The men yearning to be able to feed their families? We are a society that has forgotten how to weep, to suffer with others. The globalisation of indifference has made us incapable of weeping.’
He also repeatedly called for indifference to be overcome, for it to be countered by a ‘culture of solidarity’ and for immigration laws to be reviewed ‘to see whether they are characterised by a willingness to accept and to facilitate the integration of migrants’. He is convinced that ‘Europe will be able to overcome the problems associated with immigration if it can clearly present its own cultural identity and implement appropriate laws that can protect the rights of European citizens while guaranteeing the admission of migrants’.

IV.
Meanwhile, it is not only the refugee crisis that is giving Europe, as Pope Francis critically states, an impression of fatigue, aging and lack of fertility. The effects of the economic crisis, the continuing high unemployment in parts of the Union and the increasing alienation between citizens on the one hand and the European institutions on the other, are also causing the Pope of Europe to ask: ‘Where is your strength? Where is the spiritual striving that has always animated your history and given it meaning? Where is your spirit of inquisitive enterprise? Where is your thirst for truth, which you have so passionately communicated to the world until now? The future of the continent depends on the answer to these questions.’
And the Holy Father himself provides answers, invoking the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, unity in diversity instead of intellectual and cultural uniformity, affirming the humanistic spirit and the centrality of the human person, and also calling on Europe to draw on its own religious roots.

V.
‘Europe has always been at the forefront of a commendable commitment to ecology. This Earth of ours truly needs constant care and attention, and each of us bears a personal responsibility in the preservation of creation,’ the Holy Father admonished, devoting his great encyclical “Laudato si” to no other topic.
The name of the encyclical is a reference to its patron, Francis of Assisi, ‘who is the patron saint of all those who research and work in the field of ecology’ and whose ‘Canticle of the Sun’ contains the words. The timing of the publication of Laudato si' in June 2015 – around five months before the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, which was so successful in December – was deliberately chosen; after all, it was important to Pope Francis “that there should be a certain interval between its publication and the Paris meeting, so that it might contribute”. In the encyclical, which the Pope drafted with the help of numerous experts from around the world, the head of the Catholic Church provides a wide range of detailed and far-reaching suggestions for a sustainable climate policy that puts people first.
The central themes that run through the entire encyclical include the close relationship between poverty and the vulnerability of the planet, the intrinsic value of every creature, the throwaway culture and the proposal of a new lifestyle, and the invitation to seek a different understanding of the economy and progress. After all, ‘young people are demanding change from us. They wonder how it is possible to strive for a better future without considering the environmental crisis and the suffering of the excluded.’

VI.
The invitation to interreligious and intercultural dialogue runs like a red thread through the pontificate of Pope Francis – whether in Turkey or in Israel, where he and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I invited all Christians ‘to foster a genuine dialogue with Judaism, Islam and other religious traditions’, or, more recently, in Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic. He seeks first and foremost what unites, not what divides. And he sees mercy as an essential element that closely connects Christianity with the other two Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam.
Mercy: it is at the centre of Pope Francis' message. Many of the outstanding aspects of his pontificate are closely related to this: the modest appearance; the closeness he seeks to people, believers and non-believers, especially to people who are disadvantaged and on the margins of society; respect for nature, which also reminds us that humans are a fundamental part of it. ‘The Church feels an inexhaustible desire to offer mercy. Perhaps we have forgotten for a long time how to point out the path of mercy and how to follow it,’ he emphasised, and recently proclaimed a Holy Year of Mercy, in which all believers are called upon to be instruments of this mercy themselves – knowing that they will be judged by it.

VII.
At a time when the European Union is facing the greatest challenge of the 21st century to date, it is the Pope ‘from the other end of the world’ who is giving millions of Europeans guidance on what holds the European Union together at its core: the system of values by which we live, respect for human dignity and the rights of freedom, for the uniqueness of the human being, no matter what ethnic, religious or cultural background he or she may come from, and respect for the natural foundations of life.
The Board of Directors of the Society for the Conferring of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen is honoured to be able to award the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen to His Holiness Pope Francis in 2016. A voice of conscience that reminds us to put people at the centre of everything we do, and an outstanding moral authority who, as a mediator and admonisher, reminds us that Europe has the mission and the obligation to realise peace and freedom, justice and democracy, solidarity and the preservation of creation, building on the ideals of its founding fathers.