Pope says EU denial of European religious roots is form of 'apostasy'

Published: 2007-03-26

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Denying the Judeo-Christian roots of European culture and affirming there are no absolute values shared by all European cultures is a form of "apostasy," Pope Benedict XVI said. Europe's "unique form of apostasy" involves renouncing its own identity as well as its faith in God, the pope said March 24 to participants in a congress marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, which led to the foundation of the European Union. The congress, sponsored by the commission of bishops' conferences from European countries, brought together bishops, leaders of other European churches and Christian politicians to discuss ways to strengthen official EU references to religious and moral values. The congress preceded a March 25 European Union summit and celebration in Berlin where leaders of the 27 countries that make up the union vowed to find a "renewed common basis" for their joint activities after France and the Netherlands failed to adopt the proposed European constitution.

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