Leo XIV calls for a Europe founded on Christian roots and dignity, beyond EU bureaucracy. An appeal that recalls Meloni and Cardinal Siri
When it comes to Europe, Leo XIV seems to go well beyond the ecclesial perimeter, referring to the cultural heart of the Old Continent. But let’s get more concrete. In the general audience on 11 February, the Pope called for the «construction of a new unity of the European continent, to overcome tensions, divisions and antagonisms, religious and political».
Words spoken in a time marked by entirely European wars (the Russian-Ukrainian one), by internal fractures and by a growing distrust between institutions and citizens, certainly also linked to the negative perception of a bureaucratic EU that erases national identities. Here, in this sense the reference to the two holy evangelizers of Eastern Europe (St. Cyril and Methodius) is undoubtedly also a cultural message: Europe was born from the meeting between different interests and sensitivities held together by a common faith and language, and certainly not by their cancellation. But Europe, at the same time, can only exist if the singularities of each nation are taken into consideration. If, however, we try to erase them (an assassination attempt planned several times by Brussels), the Old Continent, once the fulcrum of culture and civilization, perishes inexorably.
Leo XIV and the new Europe
Leo The Pope calls for one «political unity founded on dignity, dialogue and democratic responsibility»overcoming the current divisions, antagonisms and cold bureaucratic management that often characterizes the Union.
Already last September 29, meeting a group of European parliamentarians in Rome, the Pontiff had spoken of healthy secularism and public responsibility based on the dignity of the person. On 10 December, receiving members of the European Parliament, he added that democratic quality is measured precisely in the ability to speak about differences with courtesy and respect, even towards your political opponent. An indication that sounds like a direct appeal to certain leftists who persist in accusing all those who do not think like them of being “fascists”, despite the fact that fascism now dates back over eighty years.
The conservative appeal of Leo XIV
It is difficult not to grasp the analogy with Giorgia Meloni’s vision of Europa. In his bestseller “I am Giorgia”, the Prime Minister described his idea of a united Europe precisely in Christianity. He mentions Constantine XI, the last emperor of Constantinople, who died in battle during the desperate attempt to defend what until 1453 was the capital of Orthodox Christianity. Meloni traces the origins of Europe to the Christian world: «Only by enhancing and transmitting our common identity will it be possible to strengthen Europeans’ awareness of having a destiny that unites them».
Also the Cardinal Giuseppe Siriin a far-sighted homily in 1972, had expressed a reflection on the time of Jesus’ birth as a turning point for Western civilization. It was Roman civilization that brought about the prophecy that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem. Under the leadership of that unique civilization, the world was at peace. It then fell to Christianity and the Church, after the fall of the Empire, to carry forward Western civilisation, also thanks to Latin as a universal language. And it is always up to Christianity to save it, before it self-destructs in a Union which now retains little or nothing of that glorious history.
