Church in the World

Pope chides EU for rejecting absolute Christian values

Rome

Pope Benedict XVI has scolded the European Union for calling into question the existence of "universal and absolute values" based on natural law, saying that such a "singular form of self-apostasy" was pushing Europe towards an identity crisis, writes Robert Mickens.

The Pope delivered a hard-hitting speech last Saturday to some 400 representatives of all the Catholic bishops' conferences in Europe who were here to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that founded the EU. He said Europe was an "historical, cultural and moral identity" before "a geographic, economic or political reality", and he credited Christianity with helping to make universal values part of its foundation. Calling Europe a "leaven" for the entire world, the Pope insisted that Christianity had to remain "an essential element" in its identity.

In their own "Message from Rome" - which was sent to the special session of European heads of government in Berlin on Sunday - the bishops urged that the still unratified EU Constitution give "explicit recognition" to Europe's Christian heritage. They said the Treaty of Rome had been an important step towards bringing peace and unification to Europe and stopping the "aberration of exacerbated nationalism". However, they said poverty, the exploitation of women and children, human rights violations, and climate change were challenges the EU had urgently to address. In a separate message to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, the heads of Germany's Catholic and Protestant Churches - Cardinal Karl Lehman and Bishop Wolfgang Huber - said Europe's Judaeo-Christian roots were of decisive importance for the future of Europe.

In his own speech, Pope Benedict warned that "compromising on essential human values" in the guise of a "legitimate act of balancing different interests" would actually lead to a "common evil", especially when such compromises were "harmful to human nature".

He also warned that from a "demographic point of view" Europe seemed to be "on a path that might lead to its twilight in history". Low birth rates not only threaten Europe's economic growth, he said, but could also cause "huge problems in terms of social cohesion".