THE VATICAN AND THE EUROPEAN UNION

Dateline: 1st September 1999

A recent article in the Peterborough Column of the Daily Telegraph threw some light on the Vatican's political engagement with the EU - It has thrown much of its weight behind further European 'integration' - although few Catholics in the United Kingdom are aware of this. This is a particularly important theme since the British Government is minded to alter the Act of Settlement, which disbars the monarch from marrying or being a Roman Catholic. At first sight, this does not appear at all unreasonable in this modern age. We all know that our Roman Catholic fellow countrymen are as British as we are. The Act of Settlement appears at first glance to be a slight upon them.

But there is a problem at the very heart of the state. Whilst the present Pope is much respected and admired by many people of diverse persuasions, the Office of the Pope still lays claim to universal jurisdiction. That is, all Roman Catholics in all countries are subject to the powers claimed for the office of Supreme Roman Pontiff. Indeed members of the Roman Church world wide are described by the Vatican as its "citizens" (the Vatican is after all a separate country).

By definition, a Sovereign cannot be subject to another Sovereign. (In the book Treason at Maastricht Atkinson and McWhirter describe the position of the Queen as having become that of "Suzerain" following the surrender of sovereign power to the European Union). But Sovereignty has been with the Crown of England - and since the Union with Scotland the United Kingdom - for hundreds of years. That is why the Articles of the Church of England state "The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this Realm of England".

This would be of largely antiquarian interest, if the Vatican were a purely religious organisation - but it is not. It is, as always, deep into politics too. In Europe it has been very active in promoting the European Union, as if the projected superstate is to be the secular arm of the Roman Church. This was paralleled historically when the Italian Nation was founded and for nearly 40 years the Vatican refused to recognised its nationhood - preferring of course its own hold over the Italian people through the Church.

The very symbol of the EU, the ring of twelve stars , is taken from a Roman representation of the Blessed Virgin Mary's halo. At a recent "Synod for Europe", Chiara Lubich, a lay auditor, said "The EU is a design not only of human beings but of God". The same Synod heard that the process of canonisation had begun for the "founding fathers" of the EU. Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gaspery and Robert Schuman. The reason given was that they had founded the EU on Roman Catholic principles.(These included of course corporatism, centralism and the weakening of the nation states).

The Vatican also joined the Euro-zone and was reportedly given a unique symbol of supremacy by the EU. Euro coins, minted by the Vatican, will carry the Pope's head. No other monarch or state has been granted such a distinction .

Because of the deceit of our old political parties, people are mostly unaware of the nature of the Euro-state into which we are slowly and deceptively being drawn. Many British Roman Catholics are appalled at the prospect of domination by continental authoritarianism and its church-based politics (Clericalism).

Institutions like the Social Chapter of the Maastricht treaty derive largely from Vatican social teaching over many decades . Bernard ("The Rotten heart of Europe") Connolly,
himself a Roman Catholic, berated Conservative MEPs for thinking that they were like Christian Democrats. But the latter are corporatist, statist, protectionist, centralist, dirigiste and authoritarian in outlook. They have little concept of democratic nationhood. So whilst the core of the religion is neither pro nor anti EU, the derived teachings (where the Vatican claims to have a "Magisterium") certainly tend towards the sort of structures which the EU is developing.

Historically, Emperor (the European Union's Charlemagne Prize awarded to people like Roy Jenkins and Tony Blair and named after the first Holy Roman Emperor) and the Vatican ran the Holy Roman Empire and they seem to be running to form.