Christian anthropology can renew the West, Vatican foreign minister says

Christian anthropology can renew the West, Vatican foreign minister says Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images Europe)/Zimbio

It is a difficult and uncertain moment in the West, when the vision of who man is and what he is for is being questioned, and the answers proposed by society are “short-sighted,” the Vatican’s foreign minister has said.

In an interview with Le Sfide magazine, Archbishop Paul Gallagher said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the future of the West, and it has the best chance if based on a Christian view of humanity.

“I do not believe that the anthropological vision that wants to be affirmed in Europe will be a source of man’s spiritual renewal,” the secretary for relations with states said.

“I do not see it as a vital inspiration, rather a pragmatic option that allows people to tell themselves that they have a vision, that they have found a path,” he continued.

According to the English bishop, the vision of man being proposed “can offer answers to certain needs of the individual but it does not make us more human. It collects in the moment an ephemeral success which cannot last over time”.

“The Christian anthropological vision, on the other hand, is much more dynamic and in conformity with reality,” he argued.