PIOTR KROCZEK The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, Poland Marriage in Catholic and Lutheran Approach as a Paradigm for Polish Legislator Keywords: marriage, family, Catholic Church, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Con- fession in Poland, Legislative initiative, legislator, paradigm 1. Respect for Christian Values in Europe: Diagnosis of a Situation In this day and age, it is easy to notice that the Christian roots of Europe are not only denied, but also under a constant attack to the point of being systematically destroyed. This has been performed by, for instance, eradicating Christian values from the life of European societies. The Pope John Paul II, in his attempt to diagnose the situation of the Old Conti- nent at the beginning of the 21st century, wrote: “Numerosi sono i seg- nali preoccupanti che, all’inizio del terzo millennio, agitano l’orizzonte del Continente europeo […]. Tra i tanti aspetti [...] vorrei ricordare lo smarrimento della memoria e dell’eredità cristiane […]. Non meravigliano più di tanto, perciò, i tentativi di dare un volto all’Europa escludendone la eredità religiosa e, in particolare, la profonda anima cristiana, fondando i diritti dei popoli che la compongono senza innestarli nel tronco irrorato dalla linfa vitale del cristianesimo.” 1 1 JOHN PAUL II: “Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Europa” (28.6.2003). Acta Apostolicae Sedis [hereafter AAS] 9 (2003), pp. 649—719, here n. 7: “There are many troubling signs which at the beginning of the third millennium are clouding the horizon of the European continent […]. Among the aspects of this situation […], I would Ecumeny and Law, no. 1 (2013) pp. 161—172