Uncomfortable traces

I watched with growing frustration the `debate’ in the UK on Europe and the new arrange­ments for managing the European Union Iast month. I think some of the Eurosceptic outrage we see in the British press is a remnant of centuries of suspi­cion of the old continent’s Catholic roots and culture. The European Union grew in unmistakably Catholic soil; its foundational spirit – a spirit which has survived albeit in a battered form to this day – was shaped by Catholic social teaching. Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum is the (unofficial) blueprint rather than Marx’s Das Kapital or Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.The European flag of 12 gold stars on a blue background draws heavily on the image of Our Lady to be found in the Book of the Apocalypse; the anthem is Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, better known in English as ‘God we Praise you’, or some other variant as a hymn.Even the new Treaty signed by Gordon Brown notes: “The Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of churches and religious associations or communities in the member states. Recognizing their identity and their specific contribution, the Union shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these churches and organiza­tions”. Put bluntly, the Catholic roots of Europe, even if they are not recog­nized in any formal way, are still very evident in the EU’s life.And there are those who find such traces distinctly uncomfortable. Shortly after the UK Government first applied for membership of the European “club”, the poet W H Auden wrote: “If the Common Market countries were to consist simply of Scandinavia, the man-in-the-street would probably be far less hostile to Britain’s entry. I have the suspi­cion that he nourishes, though probably unconsciously, strong anti-popery feelings.” Auden can be allowed a little poetic licence, but I think his instinct had a ring of truth about it. More recently, journalist Hugo Young, referring to Margaret Thatcher ‘s Euroscepticism, said: “Catholic social teaching, if not the threat of papal conspiracy, was a menace to the project of a leader bent on liberal market economics.”And on the left, Tony Benn uttered the following tell-tale line in the House of Commons: “If there is no effective democracy in Britain, Europe will say, ‘Look at the house of Commons! It didn’t seem to care very much, so we’ll run Britain.’ Then we shall be back to the Holy Roman Empire and all that.” So when I read the fulminations of the UK. Independence Party and the perhaps more sinister venom of the leader writers of certain `quality’ newspapers towards any kind of closer European integra­tion, I detected a whiff of that old anti-Catholic prejudice. Faced by this Eurosceptic onslaught, it is important for Catholics to be aware of the origins of the EU, and to know the gener­ally positive approach taken by the Church to the European project.From the early days, the Holy See established a kind of parlia­mentary office in Brussels, there is a papal nuncio to the European Institutions, and Pope John Paul addressed the European Parliament. The European Union was primarily born as a guarantor of peace and stability. So on the occasion of a new treaty signaling closer co-opera­tion, I for one am rather pleased.