There are interesting developments in Europe, namely, France, on the ratification of the E.U. Constitution going on as we speak. For most Americans, this wouldn't be news: but for Catholics, it should be.
A bit of background: The E.U. has grown from six members in the late 1950's to twenty-five at present. Its basic and professed mission is to unify Europe, thereby giving itself the ability to compete militarily and economically with blocs like China and the United States.
The part it seems to be missing, which in my view, is a fundamental and essential part, is the cultural unity. The late Pope John Paul II was pointing this out as he protested the drafting of this constitution, a constitution which in its preamble, makes no mention of Christianity as a root of European society and culture.
What has happened over the last couple of days is that France, who is herself one of the six founding members of the E.U., had a referendum popular vote on whether or not to ratify the constitution (with the preamble that John Paul II had protested) . In an astounding turn, the "Non!" party won the referendum: in effect, showing the insecurity and disunity that a majority of the French feel about being a part of the E.U. . The BBC news coverage pictured lower-income resentful welfare citizens with an axe to grind against President Chirac: but this cannot be the whole picture. It was a democratic moment: the people, or the large part of them, spoke in those large bell-toned syllables, the simplified and spinable speech of the masses. They said, "Non"- and now, the political, cultural and talking head elites will begin the process of wagging this dog. However, there is the essential element to this story which is flying way over the radar of most secularists-which is most of Europe, we are told.
The E.U. is failing. Slowly, in spits and starts, but it is failing. I think that the referendum vote in France showed the incredible crevases and insecurities which are rife and glossed over with spackle, the spackle of economic and military security, a "more powerful Europe on the world stage". I think that Pope John Paul II was uncovering those insecurities when he pointed out that the very institution which bore a large part to creating Europe has been shut out and ignored, as if it didn't matter. This institution had, at one point, unified Europe, in the High Middle Ages. More than military, more than economic, more than language, is the foundation for culture: the cultus. The basis of culture is religion, the cultus: and in Europe, this means the Roman Catholic Faith. One cannot, I repeat, cannot, unify people on the basis of anything else. A look at history will clearly show this to be true. The European Union is one of the first, if not the first, attempt to unify people on the basis of secular elements only. It will fail, because it is not about blood (the blood of sacrifice and religious brotherhood), it is about money.
Here in America, one might argue that the United States is just an antiquated version of the E.U.. But this is false. I am not arguing that the Constitution of the United States is a religious document, more likely that it is largely Masonic with Deistic overtones. But the idea and culture of America has its own religion, called "Americanism": and the traditionally religious people in America are beginning to wake up to the fact that "Americanism" is morphing into something they don't understand- but perhaps it is simply showing its real face-that of a many faced, poly-god. Still, it is a cultus. The esteemed writer and historian John Rao shows this very clearly in his writings. Where the E.U. differs is that it, to John Paul II's chagrin, made every effort to remain purely secular from the very beginning until the present.
Would a band-aid like recognizing Christianity as a root of modern Europe save this constitution of the E.U.? I think not: but the important fact that the religious root of Europe was ignored laid bare the real dis-union of Europe; for Europe is now in the throes of discovering that it has no true self: it is a bunch of individualistic atomites existing on the cultural foundations of the past. Atomites cannot build culture: they can only feed on the remnants and tear it down, a bit like termites. But God did not mean people to be termites, He wants something better for them, and so they cannot unify, they cannot grow, without Him.
An E.U. cannot heal the ghosts in the Balkans, to borrow a phrase ; it cannot deal with the societal ills and despair brought on by rampant active homosexuality; it cannot compete with the cultus of the Islamic immigrants. It is a cadaver with puppet strings attached, made to move and speak by the political elite.
It is interesting to note that Pope Benedict today said to the faithful who came to see him in Bari, "Go to Mass". With the thousands and thousands of beautiful cathedrals and churches in every European city, from the ancient Hagia Sophia(now a mosque) in Istanbul to Notre Dame in Paris and Westminster Abbey(now Protestant) in London, the really unified Europe is speaking to its descendents in the language of glass and stone: "Go back to Mass."
