The Pope and the EU’s holy founding father

{"text":[[{"start":5.78,"text":"Pope Leo XIV will on Monday lend his voice to European integration and the fight against a resurgent Eurosceptic far right, visiting the hometown of Robert Schuman — a founding father of the EU who is on the path to Catholic sainthood."}],[{"start":21.52,"text":"The speech in Metz is the culmination of a four-day tour of France, just months before a pivotal presidential election to choose a successor to Emmanuel Macron. Marine Le Pen, the far-right Eurosceptic leader, tops opinion polls."}],[{"start":34.88,"text":"Such an overtly political intervention is unusual for a pope, but Pope Leo appears to view the fight against the far right as existential. Just two months ago, he excommunicated members of a Catholic society with ties to Europe’s far right."}],[{"start":48.64,"text":"“There are forces that are pushing for the European break-up — forces in Europe and beyond,” said Francesco Sisci, director of the Appia Institute, a Rome-based geopolitical think-tank with close ties to the Vatican."}],[{"start":60.56,"text":"“The Pope casts his vote for the European Union — he is against a break-up.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":64.92,"text":"Metz is part of Alsace-Lorraine, a once-disputed border region at the centre of repeated conflict between France and Germany, which fought over control of the area and its iron ore and coal deposits for centuries."}],[{"start":76.52,"text":"In 1950, Schuman, then French foreign minister, famously proposed pooling French and West German coal and steel production under a common authority to prevent future wars — a step that laid the foundation for what later became the EU."}],[{"start":90.36,"text":"A devout Catholic and leading figure in the postwar Christian Democrat movement until his death in 1963, Schuman believed democracy and Christianity were closely intertwined."}],[{"start":101.12,"text":"In 2021, the late Pope Francis declared Schuman “venerable” in recognition of his “heroic virtues”, putting him on the path to sainthood. Pope Leo is expected to highlight those virtues in his speech on Monday."}],[{"start":113.6,"text":"“He thinks Europe needs to be awakened and called to do its job to save this world from the Apocalypse,” said Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University and author of Leo XIV and the Global Church. Pope Leo wants the EU to “do something that testifies that there is still a beating heart of Europe”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":131.48,"text":"In addition to the French presidential vote, parliamentary elections are due next year in Spain, Italy and Poland, where hard-right parties hostile to Brussels are expected to make significant gains — a prospect likely to concern Pope Leo."}],[{"start":145.08,"text":"“They are concerned that Europe in 2027 will look very different,” Faggioli said. “This is a scary prospect for the Vatican because the Church doesn’t like populism.”"}],[{"start":155.76,"text":"Pope Leo in July took the rare step of excommunicating leaders and members of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), a rebellious Catholic society with ties to neo-fascist groups in Italy and to Le Pen’s late father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had been convicted of hate speech."}],[{"start":173.36,"text":"The pontiff’s visit has generated considerable enthusiasm in highly secular France. He visited the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral and held evening prayers with young people at the 80,000-seat Stade de France in Saint-Denis, one of the poorer suburbs of Paris."}],[{"start":189.6,"text":"While Macron received the Pope at the Élysée Palace, he did not attend most of the religious services, including a huge open-air event on Saturday around the Place de la Concorde, where Le Pen and her number two Jordan Bardella were present. Macron will attend the mass in Metz, however."}],[{"start":207.16,"text":"Faggioli said the French tour was part of Pope Leo’s “European strategy” after decades of ambivalent relations with the continent and its political institutions."}],[{"start":216.08,"text":"The Holy See was an enthusiastic supporter of early European integration. But the Catholic Church was later dismayed at the fierce opposition — led by France — to incorporating a reference to Europe’s Christian roots into the EU treaty in 2004."}],[{"start":230.6,"text":"Both Pope John Paul II, a Polish national who led the struggle against Communism, and his German successor Pope Benedict XVI, battled against Europe’s rapid secularisation, leaving the church at odds with modern European sensibilities."}],[{"start":245.24,"text":"“They were seen as nostalgic for an old, pre-secular Europe,” Faggioli said. Pope Francis, an Argentine, had little interest in Europe at all, convinced the church’s future lay further afield in Africa, Asia and Latin America."}],[{"start":259.64,"text":"But Faggioli said the Chicago-born Pope Leo — whose own father was among the US troops who fought to liberate France from fascism — firmly believed in the ideals of European unity."}],[{"start":269.9,"text":"The Vatican might have disagreed with Brussels in recent decades “because it has become too technocratic”, Faggioli said."}],[{"start":276.92,"text":"“But compared to speeches given by [Donald] Trump . . . the Vatican now votes for Europe. It’s an old romance that is now being rediscovered.”"}],[{"start":285.48,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790579073_5461.mp3"}