European Union official cites historical bonds of church, Europe

Published: 2004-04-22

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (CNS) -- The president of the European Union's governing commission said the Catholic Church and Europe are "bound tightly together." Speaking via an April 18 teleconference during a pilgrimage led by Europe's bishops to Santiago de Compostela, Romano Prodi said the historical bond between the church and Europe should send a "strong signal to the new Europe that it must be founded on the values of respect for neighbor, brotherhood and peace which form our common patrimony as Christians and Europeans." Using an analogy Pope John Paul II has often used to describe Christian Europe's East and West, Prodi said, "Thanks to the process of continental unification, our union is preparing to realize a new European order -- breathing with both lungs, as the supreme pontiff wished 20 years ago." In a message to 300 church and government leaders taking part in the four-day pilgrimage, the Italian official said their journey had helped preserve "the continuity of Europe's Christian and cultural traditions."

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