The human person must be at the center of politics, culture and all aspects of life. So says Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state.

He made the point while speaking at the Seventh Congress of Gniezno in western Poland June 15-17. The event was dedicated to the theme “Man: The Way for Europe.”

“European unity will not be achieved until a union of the spirit is established,” Cardinal Bertone said, citing a speech by Pope John Paul II. “Man is the first path that the Church must go down in order to complete its mission.”

“In Europe and the rest of the world, the person is humiliated by economic systems that take advantage of entire groups,” he added. “As Christians, we cannot remain silent and we have to denounce this cultural oppression that keeps people and ethnic groups from being themselves, according to their specific vocation.

“History will be very critical of our age, to the extent that it chokes, corrupts and brutally subjugates cultures in so many countries of the world.”

Cardinal Bertone spoke of a tendency to establish so-called new values. He mentioned, for example, the “value” of perfection sought by genetic manipulation: “We inherited the right to life; therefore, the decisions relating to a person’s existence cannot be made in the laboratory.”

“The mystery of man,” added Cardinal Bertone, “is written in the mystery of redemption. Without respect for the person and his dignity, it is impossible to proclaim salvation.”

The cardinal also noted that, in recent years, the human person has been a witness to the rapid growth of science, but not to the development of responsibility.

“The embryo of Europe is a Europe based on the Christian values of the Gospel,” he said. “Europe must be a continent of Christian values.”

Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin, a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture, echoed Cardinal Bertone’s thoughts.

“We need to underline the path of a person,” he said, calling for a complete understanding of the human person and his dignity.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski said that one of the great challenges of today’s Europe is the model of the European citizen: “The European Union does not cover the entire continent, and we need to remain open to everyone in the name of solidarity.

“Europe is an increasingly secular continent, such that discussions are not just about institutions, but also about its people. I am convinced that Europe’s path is the path of the person, and the person needs faith. It is a challenge for Europeans to fight for their values.”

The former director of the Vatican press office, Joaquín Navarro Valls, spoke about marriage and the family of tomorrow as a decisive question for the future of Europe.

After saying that the family is equally important for men and women, Navarro Valls presented the dangers in seeing the family as a changing social model, similar to a corporation.

“The family,” he explained, “is a small part of the person’s path toward perfection. A true culture of the family cannot grow within institutions that are destroying it.”

“Who will provide economic assistance for the development of the family?” Navarro Valls asked. “This aspect must take center stage in social negotiations, above all when the very basis of society, the family, does not take part in parliament and government.”

“Preservation of the family, the cultural and Christian identity, is a question that calls out to each one of us: Who am I and how can I explain myself to others? The question is not only, ‘Where is Europe going,’” he concluded, but you, parliamentarians, ‘Where are you taking us?’”