Page 1, 26th November 2004

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Page 1, 26th November 2004 — Secular Europe is the enemy, says Ratzinger
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Secular Europe is the enemy, says Ratzinger

Cardinal attacks EU liberals as speculation grows that he could be the next pope.
Freddy Gray reports CATHOLIC values are being forced underground by secular forces in Europe, according to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the cardinal – tipped by some commentators to be the next pope – issued a call to arms in the face of ideological aggression within the European Union. His comments will confirm a growing impression that conservatives in the Vatican want to set the Church on a collision course with liberal Europe.
Cardinal Ratzinger, 77, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called on people to unite in defence of Christian values.
“In Sweden, a Protestant minister who preached about homosexuality on the basis of an excerpt from the Scriptures was put in jail for a month,” he said.
“Secularism is no longer that element of neutrality which opens up space for freedom for all. It is beginning to change into an ideology which is being imposed through politics.
“We must defend religious freedom against the imposition of an ideology that presents itself as the only voice of rationality.” His remarks come shortly after MEPs refused to approve the Italian Catholic Rocco Buttiglione as European Justice Commissioner because of his views on homosexuality and the family.
Pope John Paul has repeatedly expressed his dismay at the dominance of secularism in the European Union, and in particular at the lack of any mention of Europe’s Christian heritage in the preamble to the European Constitution.
These concerns are shared not only by senior figures in the Vatican but also by a famous German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, a selfproclaimed “methodical atheist” who believes that Christianity should be respected as the intellectual cornerstone of European society.
“Recognising our JudaeoChristian roots more clearly does not impair intercultural understanding. It is what makes it possible,” he said.
In last week’s interview Cardinal Ratzinger added that while European Catholics should learn from the strength of faith displayed by Muslims in the world, they should also show Muslims “a God that allows more freedom to human beings” and a faith that offers more freedom for cultural development.
In August, he told the French newspaper Le Monde that Turkey should not join the European Union because of its Muslim heritage.
“In the course of history, Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe,” he said.
“Making the two continents identical would be a mistake. It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics.” He proposed instead that Turkey form an alternative “continent” with Muslim countries. He said that both alliances could work together to fight fundamentalism. In the foreword to his recently published book, Introduction to Christianity, Cardinal Ratzinger argued that 1968, “the year of revolutions”, and 1989, the pivotal year in the decline of Communism, were to be lamented as the most damaging years of the 20th century.
He argued that Europe fell into an spiritual vacuum after the decline of Communism.
“When the time came that all could see, if only on the surface, the ruins left behind by this idea [of Marxism], people preferred to take refuge in a pragmatic life and publicly profess a contempt for ethics,” the cardinal wrote.
Vatican observers claim that long pontificates tend to be followed by the appointment of a trusted administrator as a short-term or “interim” pope. Despite his controversial reputation, Cardinal Ratzinger might fit that description, though liberals would be horrified by his elevation.
John Allen, an American Catholic journalist and the author of Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican’s Enforcer of the Faith, said in an interview earlier this month that “the border patrol party” – his name for the strong conservative faction in the College of Cardinals – might vote en bloc in the conclave to elect the next pope.“The border patrol party would love nothing more than to elect Joseph Ratzinger,” he said.
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