Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Europe is headed for Muslim future, says Czech Cardinal

Cardinal Vlk
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Autor: Ludvík Hradilek

CzechNews
16:20 6.1.2009
Simona Holecová, Martin Novák

Prague - Twenty years following the fall of communism the Czech Republic is at EU's helm.

But so far the EU member states have failed to agree on the form of the EU constitution.

Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, the head of the Czech Roman Catholic Church, is adamant that behind the failure to adopt the euro-treaty is the absence of what Europe feels natural about - Christian values.

"When the Irish said No to the Lisbon Treaty, they said it because the European Union and Lisbon Treaty have dropped the Christian roots," said Cardinal Vlk in an interview for Aktuálně.cz.

Cardinal Vlk pointed out that it was Christian politicians that came up with the idea of unified Europe. Italian politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party Alcide De Gasperi, former French Prime Minister Robert Schuman and German statesman Konrad Adenauer are regarded as founders of the European Union.

In the interview Vlk links the European Union's flag to Christian values. The flag consisting of twelve stars on a blue background was admittedly inspired by the Bible. In Vlk's view the circle of stars refers to the twelve-star halo of the Virgin Mary.

Cardinal Vlk was quick to mention the flag was adopted on December 8, a day which celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary.


The EU flag bears a striking similarity to the image of Virgin Mary, says Cardinal Vlk
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Autor: Wikipedia.org

Family values missing

As a former head of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe, Cardinal Vlk protested against the Nice Treaty, which was signed by the European leaders in 2001 in the town of Nice, France. According to him, the Treaty curtailed the freedom of religion and the definition of family was poorly based on Christian values.

Cardinal Vlk expressed strong disapproval of Islamic fundamentalism. "It is abuse of the Quran in the name of power. Islamic fundamentalism sets if someone does not live according to God, he must be killed. That is absurd," said Cardinal Vlk.

He believes in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims but "in terms of culture and opinions Islam is medieval".

"I do not want to sound negative... but in Islam a religion assumes the position of the state power and rules the people. Our European Christian experience proved that it is not the right way," said Cardinal Vlk.

The symbolism of a circle of stars is quite varied, but usually denotes unity, solidarity and harmony.

As for Europe, Pope Benedict has been working tirelessly to re-evangelize Europeans away from relativism and secularism and back to their Christian roots. My blog was created to witness to Christ and to our Pope's efforts in this regard as the purpose statement of my blog reiterates, it being: "[a] blog on our Pope, the new evangelization of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the mission of the Church, and the tyranny of relativism."

posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 12:18 PM