The Pattern of Papal Persecutions, Then and Now by Richard Bennett Present Day Relations Between the EU and Roman Catholic Church The desire of the European Union to incorporate "Christian" influence into a "Europe undergoing unification" is shown by the following quotes from the Catholic International magazine, Commission chairman Jacques Santer said the EU had shown its readiness to recognize the "specific role of Churches" in its October 1997 Amsterdam Treaty. However, he added that this should be seen as only a "first step" towards strengthening the EU-Church ties. "Churches are called to give sense to a Europe undergoing unification", the chairman continued. "Although we cannot really speak now of a Christian Europe as such, Christianity is still putting its mark on Europe, and a Europe without Christianity remains unthinkable." The address follows calls for a "new quality" in EU attitudes to Churches by the German head of the Commission of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (COMCE), [Roman Catholic] Bishop Josef Homeyer, issued during a June meeting with Santer in Brussels. ". . . Catholic leaders have complained that current EU-Church contacts still provide no input into policy making...Bishop Egon Kapellari, also cautioned that attempts to "push Churches to the margins" could impede the creation of a "common, spiritual Europe." ...[Jacques] Santer said Churches deserved to be a "privileged partner" of the EU . . ." Three points are noticeable here. First, "Catholic leaders" desire input into "policy making". The historical analysis provided by this paper demonstrates that political involvement by the Roman Catholic Church in European State affairs may inevitably result in the persecution of Christians. Second, in the political statement made by Jacques Santer (the head of the European Union Governing Commission) on the "specific role of Churches", the term "Churches" probably means the Roman Catholic Church in partnership with the European ecumenical churches. The Catholic Church has been historically and still is today by far the largest church in Europe. Therefore its policies, including canon law, are likely to be the dominant influence in giving the EU "sense" in the "privileged" partnership. Third, the Amsterdam Treaty is now part of EU law and Jacques Santer envisages the treaty "as only first step towards strengthening the EU-Church ties". History seems to be repeating itself.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 01:41:47 +0000
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