French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, exit a polling booth adorned with curtains displaying the colors of the flag of France before casting their ballot for the European Parliament election at a polling station in Le To… […]
Bishop Mariano Crociata meets with Pope Francis on March 23, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 7, 2024 / 14:45 pm (CNA).
The president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), Bishop Marian… […]
Pope Francis on the morning of June 7, 2023 shortly before heading to the hospital for abdominal surgery greets pilgrims at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome, Italy, Jun 11, 2023 / 05:10 am (CNA).
While recovering in the hospital, Pope Francis sent a message to the largest political party in the European Parliament.
In a letter to the European People’s Party published by the Vatican on June 11, the pope urged politicians to be united on “issues where primary ethical values and important points of Christian social doctrine are at stake.”
“The Christian politician should distinguish himself by the seriousness with which he approaches issues, rejecting opportunistic solutions and always holding firm to the criteria of the dignity of the person and the common good,” Pope Francis said.
“In this regard, you have a very rich heritage on which to draw to bring your original contribution to European politics, namely the social doctrine of the Church. Think, for example, of the two principles of solidarity and subsidiarity and their virtuous dynamic.”
Pope Francis signed the letter on June 9, two days after he underwent a three-hour surgery for an incisional hernia. A team of surgeons removed scar tissue and operated on a hernia in the pope’s abdominal wall at the site of a previous surgical incision.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said June 11 that Pope Francis’ “post-operative progress is normal.” He added that the pope watched Sunday Mass on television and received the Eucharist in his hospital room before praying the Angelus in the papal medical suite chapel and eating lunch with some hospital staff.
The 86-year-old pope is expected to remain recovering in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for the next week. The Vatican has canceled all of the pope’s audiences, including his Sunday Angelus address, until June 18.
In his message to the European People’s Party, the pope said that he views human fraternity as “the great inspiring principle” for tackling the challenges of migration and caring for the planet.
“I think that fraternity can also be a source of inspiration for those who want to re-animate Europe today so that it fully responds to the expectations of both its peoples and the whole world. Because a European project today can only be a global project,” Francis said.
The European People’s Party is a center-right political group in the European Union, made up of 40 parties across Europe, including Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, The Republicans of France, Forza Italia of Italy, the People’s Party in Spain, and Fine Gael of Ireland.
The party was founded as the Christian Democrat Group in 1953 and traces its roots back to Venerable Robert Schuman, known as a key “founding father” of the European Union.
“Dear friends, let us remember our origins: let us not forget how united Europe was born; let us not forget the tragedy of the wars of the 20th century,” Pope Francis wrote.
“The gradual and patient work of building a united Europe … what did it have in it as inspiration? What ideal, if not to generate a space where people could live in freedom, justice, and peace, respecting each other in diversity? Today this project is being tested in a globalized world, but it can be revived by drawing on the original inspiration, which is more relevant and fruitful than ever not only for Europe but for the entire human family.”
Elisabeth Ohlsen. / Credit: E. Ohlson
Washington D.C., May 4, 2023 / 15:30 pm (CNA).
An art exhibit at the European Union’s Parliament building in Brussels, Belgium, has prompted criticism from conservative politicians in Italy for its display … […]
Installation of the first Nativity scene in the European Parliament / Credit: European People’s Party
CNA Newsroom, Dec 5, 2022 / 12:25 pm (CNA).
Christmas this year marks the first time in its history that the European Parliament has allowed a Nativity scene to be set up at its headquarters in Brussels. Until now, officials of the European institution had considered it “potentially offensive.”
The efforts of Isabel Benjumea, a member in the EU’s House of Representatives from Spain, were key to finally having a Nativity scene on display at the institution.
When she was elected in 2019, Benjumea tried her first year in office to prepare the groundwork for a gift of a Nativity scene to the parliament that would be exhibited during the Christmas season. However, she ran into European bureaucracy and deadlines.
The following year she began to take the necessary steps. The response could not have been more disheartening.
A Nativity scene could not be installed, she was informed by the office of the President of Parliament, because it was “potentially offensive” to nonbelievers.
“This had become a kind of crusade because it seemed unacceptable to me to ignore the Christian roots of Europe,” the parliamentarian told Spanish newspaper ABC.
Finally, this year the effort had the support of the Maltese president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, although the Nativity scene has only been “authorized as a special exhibition,” which may or may not be renewed in the future.
The Nativity scene on display in the European Parliament is from Murcia, a region in southeastern Spain with a great tradition of Nativity scenes and imagery.
Artisans from the workshop of Jesús Griñán created the Nativity scene.
In his Aug. 24, 2003, Angelus address, St. John Paul II noted that he was prayerfully following the drafting of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union.
The pontiff said that “the Catholic Church is convinced that the Gospel of Christ, which has been a unifying element of the European peoples for many centuries, should be and continue to be today too an inexhaustible source of spirituality and fraternity. Taking note of this is for the benefit of all, and an explicit recognition of the Christian roots of Europe in the treaty represents the principle guarantee for the continent’s future.”
However, the pope’s efforts were ignored.
In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized the EU for excluding any mention of God or the continent’s Christian roots in the institution’s declarations on the 50th anniversary of its founding.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Cardinal Joseph Zen. / Iris Tong via Wikimedia (Public Domain).
Strasbourg, France, Jul 8, 2022 / 04:24 am (CNA).
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The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. / fotogoocom via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).
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The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. / fotogoocom via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).
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