Zagreb (IKA) ­- In the Christmas message that the archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, issued to the public on December 21, he was particularly critical of the increasingly widespread corruption in Croatian society.

Stressing solidarity as a basic contemporary Christian virtue, Cardinal Bozanić said that it issues from the openness of the Bethlehem manger that had no door. “The holy night calls upon us to take responsibility. It cautions us to have a responsible attitude toward the doors separating people and within ourselves. It calls upon us to try to make them as open as possible because behind closed doors there is only false security. Behind closed doors, life is false,” stated the archbishop of Zagreb, pointing out that by the openness of the manger “God did not want to wall himself off from people” but instead was born in order to be everything to all people.

Referring to the current situation in Croatia, in which abortion is regulated by laws that were issued under the communist regime in the 1970s, the cardinal emphasized that man is in the image of God and asked who has the right to denigrate this image of God in man. “From this perspective, can we speak at all of wanted and unwanted children? All of us are wanted by God. From the very beginning of our lives, beneath our mother’s hearts, Christ is vitally connected to each of us,” writes the archbishop of Zagreb.

Discussing solidarity as a social virtue, the archbishop of Zagreb pointed out that it does not merely consist of the stronger helping the weaker but also in the facilitating of coexistence among all the members of society. “There is no genuine coexistence where there is no solidarity. If it is not achieved, we are in danger of finding ourselves confronting a social pathology, in which social conscience and genuine civilization are suppressed.” For the revival of solidarity, decisive and all-embracing efforts are needed in the cultivation of conscience, and the starting point can only be justice, a renewed understanding of the human person, recommended the archbishop of Zagreb, pointing out that those who are in authority “have particular responsibility for establishing cohesiveness in the society.” Condemning individualism that is increasingly becoming collective egoism, the cardinal asked Christians as well “the wise and responsible”: “Are we prepared for something more than indifference?” Despite the desired Christmas-based solidarity, there is also “vicious solidarity” which is characterized by brazenness. This is a solidarity that goes beyond divisions among political parties and is born from illegal interests, or interests that become immoral when the power of the group is used as a means for taking advantage of the weaker, when the law of the group becomes a source of injustice against which effective legal protection of the weaker is hindered,” writes the archbishop of Zagreb, warning of the increasingly blatant corruption in Croatian society. “In a particular way, there is a phenomenon in opposition to the Christian call to solidarity and sensitivity toward our neighbors, and as such it is corroding and poisoning various areas of public and private life. This pestilence is the corruption that has spread to such a disturbing extent in our homeland. It concerns a phenomenon that requires serious ethical assessment and judgment, because it erodes the fundamental values of human relationships such as trust, honesty, justice and equality and significantly threatens the equality, solidarity and security of citizens.” Calling it a “great sin against the weak,” Cardinal Bozanić urged the social institutions, political organizations, responsible persons in authority, nongovernment organizations, the media, the Church and religious communities, as well as each citizen to unite in the battle against this evil in the contemporary Croatian society.