EUROPEAN UNION - WILL ROME STAVE OFF DISINTEGRATION?
The European Union is in crisis, and there are widespread predictions of its disintegration (The disintegration of Europe: How the EU is falling apart.) The article in parenthesis is only one among many which can be found online. Exacerbating the crisis is the possibility that the United Kingdom may vote in a June 2016 referendum to exit the Union. It is worthy of note that Britain does not favor a "United States of Europe," which has always been the goal of the Vatican. It will therefore come as no surprise that Pope Francis has weighed in against Britain's exit from the EU:-
Pope Francis tells Europe, ‘I Have a Dream’
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech that became a defining moment in the American Civil Rights movement, laying out his dream for a racially reconciled nation.
On Friday, Pope Francis delivered his own “I have a dream” address, in this case dedicated to Europe, calling the continent to undergo a “memory transfusion” to avoid the mistakes of the past and to pursue a future based on economic justice, openness to newcomers, respect for life in all its stages, and dialogue with everyone.
“I dream of a Europe that is young, still capable of being a mother: a mother who has life because she respects life and offers hope for life,” Francis said on Friday, as he was accepting the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, given yearly to personalities or institutions for their efforts towards European unity. . .
When the prize was announced, both the Vatican and the committee that presents it had said that Francis wouldn’t travel to the city of Aachen to receive it. It’s the first time the ceremony has been held somewhere else.
The only other pope to receive a similar honor from
this committee was John Paul II, who in 2004
received an
“extraordinary” Charlemagne prize. . .
Preceding Francis’ acceptance speech, European
Parliament President Martin Schulz, European
Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker, and European Council President
Donald Tusk all gave their own remarks.
“Our European unity is founded on a simple insight: whenever we Europeans have been divided, the consequences for everyone have been disastrous,” Schulz said, speaking in Spanish.
However, he added, “the forces unleashed by the crises we’re facing are driving us apart, not bringing us closer together: national self-interest, renationalization and particularism are gaining ground.”. . .
Francis also listed three “capacities” with which Europe would be able to create a “new European humanism,” that would lead to his dreamed version of his ancestors home: The capacity to integrate, the capacity for dialogue and the capacity to generate.
An integrated version of the European people, he said, would rediscover its soul, “born of the encounter of civilizations and peoples.”. . .
Lastly, in Francis’ envisioned rebirth of “weary” Europe, the Catholic Church must “play her part.”
“Her task is one with her mission: the proclamation of the Gospel,” because only a Church rich in witness “will be able to bring back the pure water of the Gospel to the roots of Europe.”
This witness, he said, must also include efforts towards full Christian unity.
The name of Charlemagne has profound significance in the context of the European Union:
Although missionaries like Patrick and Augustine had made Christianity hugely successful in the British Isles, there was really only one tribe in the whole of mainland Europe who were mainstream Christians — the Franks, whose King had converted in 599. The others were all pagans or Arians.
All this changed when Charles the Great, or “Charlemagne” became King of the Franks, ruling from 771 to 814. He was a great military conqueror, and channeled this talent into the service of the church, for in taking over most of Western Europe and a fair bit of the east, he used military force to compel all his subject peoples to become Christian. He also sponsored more subtle missionary efforts, and encouraged the spread of Benedictine monasteries, and especially the copying of theological manuscripts.
The Pope crowned him Roman Emperor in 800, centuries after the ancient Roman Empire had collapsed in Europe — a move which infuriated the Eastern Emperor who still claimed to rule both east and west. His “Holy Roman Empire” shrank rapidly after his death, but it remained a major force in Europe into the Reformation. Although centered in modern Germany, its influence spread much wider.
In the history of Charlemagne's Europe is the heart of Pope Francis' dream of an integrated Europe. These passages highlighted above make it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt. Given the present nominal, and the historical, Protestant countries of Europe, the fact that there is no attempt to conceal Rome's ambition is a powerful evidence of prophecy fulfilled (Rev. 13:3.):
In European countries which were most profoundly influenced by the Reformation, Protestantism still remains the most practiced religion. These include the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom. In other historical Protestant strongholds such as Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia and Hungary, it remains one of the most popular religions.
That Brexit was included as a target in the Pope's speech is evidenced by the reaction of European integrationists:
Nigel Baker has a reputation in the Vatican for being an efficient British ambassador to the Holy See. He had plenty of reason to celebrate on Friday as it appeared that his political message had made it all the way up to Pope Francis.
The Pontiff on Friday gave a speech on Europe that the bloc’s leaders hope will convince citizens — including Brits — that the EU is worth fighting for, according to senior EU officials.
The high-profile audience was a sign of the influence a Papal word has in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was present as were Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and several heads of state, from Spain’s King Felipe to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė.
This commentary would be incomplete without noting the fact that the United States has looked with favor on the union of European countries from it very inception. This settled policy has been followed by the Obama presidency, as evidenced by the fact the President traveled to the United Kingdom recently to declare the United States' opposition to Brexit. This is also further evidence that "the policy of the Vatican, and the foreign policy of the United States since the days of Point Four and the Marshall Plan, are ONE."
In the reports cited above, there is on the one hand evidence that the European Union is tottering on the brink of dissolution, and on the other hand proof of the influence and power of the Vatican. One cannot safely bet on the disintegration of the European Union, and certainly not on a waning of papal influence. Prophecy declares that this will not happen (Rev. 13:3-4.)