Clearly not satisfied with mere temporal power, some of Europe’s ruling elite are now seeking divinity:
A campaign to sanctify the European Union through the beatification of its founding father, Robert Schuman, has run into stiff resistance from the Vatican and now appears likely to fail.
For 14 years investigators under the diocese of Metz have combed through the life of the French statesman to determine whether he merits the title “Blessed Robert”, the first step to sainthood.
The drive for his beatification and eventual canonisation was launched by a private group in Metz, the St Benoit Institute, but has acquired powerful backers, including President Jacques Chirac.
I can find no information about the St Benoit Institute but the reference to ‘powerful backers’ leads me to suspect that they are merely the low-profile conduits for a project which has been germinated at a far higher and more official level.
I seldom comment of matters of religious doctrine or practice because, as someone without any faith to speak of, I do not consider them to be any of my business. However, this is not really about the practices of the Roman Catholic Church or even about the status of the late Mr. Schuman but more about Europe’s elite seeking divine provenance for their transnational machine.
Is this how they now see themselves? As apostles of a blessed prophet working to establish a Church of Brussels? Would they prefer to be seen as the ‘Annointed’ rather than merely a political nomenklatura?
The presses of the European Fourth Estate may ring out furious daily denunciations of ‘American arrogance’ but I submit that it is next to impossible to find anything more wildly hubristic than a post hoc claim to the benediction of Holy Writ. Close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine the chorus of snorting, braying contempt that would be served up in response to George Bush seeking canonisation of, say, Thomas Jefferson.
I believe it was our friend David Farrer who first coined the term ‘Holy Belgian Empire’ to describe the European Union. He was joking, of course, and my how we laughed!
George W. Bush would never seek canonization of Thomas Jefferson. I know we’re supposed to imagine, but dammit, that’s just too far-fetched.
Doesn’t this go against (at least in spirit) the EU’s earlier refusal to include Christian values in the constitution? (link)
I predicted something like this in a comment a couple of days ago, but I was expecting it to take five years or so. Yikes.
We are the priests
Of the temples of Brussels…
Careful, you’ll wake the loonies who insist the EU is a Mariolatrous Catholic plot to ensnare Protestant Europe.
Hold the red star proud in hand…
Neil Peart
I knew that transnational progressivism (“tranziness”) is Europe’s new religion, but I didn’t realize that some of you would ever take it so literally.
Lord.
‘Holy Belgian Empire’
I like that. Basically a stealth empire since it is really the all new this old Franco-German Empire, a wheel with Belgium at the hub (half, more or less, speaking Flemish/Dutch/German and the rest speaking French) connecting this strange device with two rather odd spokes.
There are, of course, more than two spokes, but most do not reach the rim.
Well with this sort of thing going on, can you blame the “EU is Catholic conspiracy” types? Having encountered the messianic zeal of ardent pro-Europeans in the form of Austrians, Germans and the French I can see how this lot get their ideas. You also need to factor in the absolute refusal to allow Turkey into the EU and the hatred of the secular (at least in government) US. Then again you can always go back and read some of these statements of the founders of the EU for even more fodder.
Sometimes it seems as if the EU is determined to look like a caricature of the dreams of the Vichy intellectuals circa 1941.
Somehow I don’t think Bush would try to cannonize Jefferson, Hamilton maybe, but not Jefferson.
Mr Bush wouldn’t try to get anyone canonised, for godssake! He’s not a Roman Catholic.
Which brings us to the question, what is the proportion of Roman Catholics to other Christians in the EU? Maybe the vast majority of the population would be profoundly unimpressed by the canonisation of the batshit who got the ball rolling.
It is a grotesque scenario, nevertheless.
Bush canonizing Hamilton would be closer to reality, but it’s still a far stretch. If he was to canonize any former president, the obvious choice would be Reagan. (Although, if Bush was choosing according to principle, I’d suggest LBJ…)
Interestingly enough I do not think this really has any foundation for having “Christian values.”
Being a religious man and one that though I may sound insane to say such matters to such a learned group as the one that gathers here (no sarcasm included there) but I find this intriquining on whether Europe is dead-set preparing a “throne and kingdom” for the actual Anti-Christ or perhaps a lower cased one (yes indeed I believe in such matters). Now I’m not certain of any such thing of course and it’s only my opinon on the matter but since I consider Hitler a “type” of anti-Christ and he had no problem envoking religious ideaology to sway the masses I cannot see how this could not be a possible reality in this situation.
So of course now I ask (as I don’t keep up with European figures as much as I do Asian ones) what possible man (or woman) would be possibly “divinely crowned” in the tradition of the newly sanctified Schuman?
I promise I’m not crazy. Just trying to bring a different, and it is certainly that, vision on the matter. 😉
Canonisation is a long road in any case. You need miracles. Which means you need your candidate saint either to have put religious faith to direct practical use, or to have people praying in their name.
The Holy See is unlikely to give him credit for the formation of the EU. However absurd it is as a model of human governance, the Commission has not yet succeeded in transgressing established physical laws.
CTDeLude, I was wondering the same thing. I had posted a comment on the subject of US troops pulling out of Europe and Asia recently. I mentioned my concern of another Hitler emerging out of the woodwork. What you said was exactly what I had in mind.
Denise, glad I’m not the only one who thought something like that. It’ll be interesting to see what the next few years provides to us and it could possibly be the world of the late 30’s all over again.