Pope Says Europe Must Recall Christian Roots

Appealing anew to the European Union to give formal recognition to the continent’s Christian roots, Pope John Paul II has warned that the “loss of Europe’s Christian memory and heritage” has serious consequences for society.

The Polish-born Roman Catholic pontiff said that growing secularism in Europe is causing a “kind of fear of the future,” which he blamed for a decline in birth rates and in religious vocations and for rejection of marriage.

The Vatican was dismayed when the draft of the preamble of a proposed European Union constitution issued late last month said Europe was nourished by “Hellenic and Roman civilizations” and “the philosophical currents of the Enlightenment” but did not specifically mention Christianity. A revised draft issued June 13 referred only to Europe’s “cultural, religious and humanist inheritance.”

“I would like to mention in a particular way the loss of Europe’s Christian memory and heritage, accompanied by a kind of practical agnosticism and religious indifference whereby many Europeans give the impression of living without spiritual roots and somewhat like heirs who have squandered a patrimony entrusted to them by history,” the pope wrote.