Is Pope Benedictus a closet euro-sceptic?

In September 2009 Pope Benedict spoke about liberty and Europe´s Christian heritage in Prague

TheVatican has during recent years rightly criticised the European Union for failing to recognise Europe´s Christian heritage (there is no mention of it e.g. in the EU´s constitutional treaties). Now Pope Benedict XVI has voiced some more general criticism of the EU, which is interesting:

 

In a conversation with reporters who accompanied him on a June 4 flight to Croatia, Pope Benedict XVI said that Croatia’s entry into the European Union should help to reinforce the sense of Europe’s Christian heritage.

“European identity is precisely an identity of the richness of diverse cultures, which converge in the Christian faith,” the Pope said. “It seems to me that it is one of the missions of the Croatians who enter in now: to make this visible and efficient.”

Answering a reporter’s question about the growing skepticism toward the European Union, the Pope said that attitude was understandable in light of “a central bureaucracy that may be too heavy, or of a rationalistic culture which does not take history sufficiently into account.” He said that Croatia, with its deep roots in Christian faith, might help to counterbalance “a certain abstract rationalism.”

Read the entire piece here

PS

The Pope is, of course, right:  The EU´s central bureacracy is much too heavy, and it is scandalous that the EU failed to recognise Europe´s Christian heritage in its constitutional treaties. On can only hope that Pope Benedict will return to these, and other, eurocritical themes in the near future. Anyway, welcome to the informal club of  eurocritical observers, Your Holiness!