- Adrian Hilton says that the EU is a means of undoing
the Reformation and extending Vatican sovereignty over Britain...
-
- This realm of England is an Empire ...governed by one
Supreme Head and King.' So proclaimed Thomas Cromwell in his most critical
piece of legislation, the Act in Restraint of Appeals in 1533. By calling
England an empire, he designated it a sovereign state, with a king who
owed no submission to any other human ruler and who was invested with plenary
power to give his people justice in all causes. Interestingly, the Act's
critics in Parliament were not so much concerned by its doctrinal corollaries,
as by the fear that the Pope might retaliate by organising a European trade
embargo against England. The Pope, of course, laid claim to the ultimate
divine right. He was, after all, the Vice-Christ, appointed to establish
one unified empire under one emperor, belonging to one Church under one
God.
-
- England finally rid itself of papal interference in the
Bill of Rights of 1689, which declared that 'no foreign prince, person,
prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power,
superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within
this realm.' It may have taken 440 years from Cromwell's foundational declaration,
but entry in 1973 to the 'European Economic Community' brought England
back into the Catholic fold, and exactly 460 years after the English monarch
was declared sovereign, the present Queen was reduced to vassal status
under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty, which rendered her a European
citizen and thereby subject to 'foreign princes and potentates'.
-
- The issue of European religious union is one that has
been concealed even deeper than the plans for political union, but the
ratchet towards a Catholic Europe is just as real. The Pope's recent demand
that 'God' be featured in the emerging European constitution has been echoed
by many leading Catholic politicians and bishops. While on the surface
such a reference may offend only Europe's atheist and humanist contingent,
it must be observed that when the Vatican refers to God, she sees herself
as God's infallible vice-regent upon earth, the leading organ of divine
expression; indeed, according to its publication Dominus Iesus (5 September
2000), as the only mediator in the salvation of God's elect, insisting
that all other Churches, including the Church of England, 'are not Churches
in the proper sense'.
-
- The Roman Church is founded on a political dogma claiming
that the Pope is 'supreme ruler of the world'; superior to all kings, prime
ministers and presidents. These spiritual and temporal claims remain very
much fundamental dogmas of Catholic teaching, permitting the Pope, through
Cardinal Ratzinger, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, to issue clear directives to Catholic politicians on how they
should vote. Since their obedience is considered a 'moral duty', devolve
everything to the overwhelmingly Catholic European Council of Ministers,
Commission and Parliament, and the ultimate Caesar is the Pope.
-
- Such would be the fulfilment of a Sunday Telegraph article
(21 July 1991) which stated: 'Karol Wojtyla is calmly preparing to assume
the mantle which he solemnly believes to be his Divine Right - that of
new Holy Roman Emperor, reigning from the Urals to the Atlantic.' The Catholic
Church is achieving this through its political wings - the Christian Democrat
and Christian Socialist parties - with the EU's 'Founding Fathers' now
reaping the ultimate reward: sainthood. The Pope has beatified Alcide De
Gasperi, Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer for founding the Union 'on
Roman Catholic principles'. A supporter of their canonisation said it shows
that Europe 'was built upon a rock', adding, 'I think that the European
Union is a design not only of human beings but of God.' The very act of
bestowing sainthoods on politicians is purposely designed to inculcate
that European unification is God's will, and that those who lead it govern
by divine right.
-
- During the 1975 referendum campaign, Shirley Williams
unambiguously associated the vision of Europe with Rome's goal of assuming
political and religious authority over the lives of all Europeans. She
observed, 'We will be joined to Europe, in which the Catholic religion
will be the dominant faith and in which the application of the Catholic
Social Doctrine will be a major factor in everyday political and economic
life.' While the EU has adopted many symbols of nationhood (a passport,
flag, anthem and currency) and is now moving towards the attributes of
government (a president, foreign secretary, global ambassadors at the UN
and G8), it follows that, since Europe has no unified demos, a 'deeper'
cohesive force is necessary to hold the whole project together. When Cardinal
Maria Martini of Milan addressed the European Parliament in 1997 in a symposium
on Remembering the Origins of the Process of Integration, he identified
this 'deeper' something - effectively a common state religion - reminding
the Parliament that its true foundation was a religious one. He outlined
the importance of a single faith (Catholicism), and emphasised that religions
must not support nationalisms (i.e., the Church of England must not defend
the English constitution), and Europe must recognise the 'primacy of the
divine' (i.e., the primacy of the Pope). His address included demands for
a new welfare state, in accordance with Roman Catholic social doctrine,
and his contention that European integration was never about economic and
monetary issues alone. He said, 'The Europe we must build is a Europe of
the spirit.'
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- When divinity rules, it is, of course, infallible. According
to canon law, the Pope claims immunity from all moral and civil authority:
'The First See is judged by no one.' This is precisely the spirit in which
the EU governs, with the Court of Justice deeming that political criticism
of its leaders is akin to the most extreme forms of blasphemy. It is therefore
possible to suppress it without violating freedom of speech, affording
the EU an undefined and seemingly unlimited power to restrict political
criticism. Like the Papacy, the Court is supreme, accountable to no one,
and the sole arbiter of citizens' 'rights'. Lord Shore, in his book Separate
Ways, observed that the Commission acts precisely 'like a priestly caste
- similar to what it must have been in pre-Reformation days, when the Bible
was in Latin, not English; the Pope, his cardinals and bishops decided
the content of canon law'.
-
- Accordingly, any decision of the people which does not
accord with the divine will has to be corrected. The very notion of 'destiny'
is simply a euphemism for government by divine right, and this is the teleological
explanation for three referendums in Denmark on the Treaty of Maastricht,
two referendums in Ireland on the Treaty of Nice, and the suspension of
democracy altogether in Belgium and Italy in order to ratify treaties or
force through budgets. In each referendum, there is a 'wrong' and a 'right'
outcome. It also accords with the EU's sanctioning and funding of 'acceptable'
political parties, i.e., those who ultimately accord with its own aims.
When the United Kingdom votes no to the euro, the wrath of God will be
poured out again and again until the people repent and accept their predestined
fate.
-
- Such a destiny can be foisted upon recalcitrant nations
only when they are weakened. The Roman principle of divide and rule is
resurrected in the 'Europe of Regions' strategy, which encourages each
'region' of Europe to look directly to Brussels for policy and funding,
bypassing national parliaments in the process. This is a recreation of
a mediaeval Europe of small, ineffectual states which can be easily dominated.
The ecumenically minded Church of England has been complicit in the fracturing
of England, with its bishops chairing regional conventions, but the Ecumenical
Movement is in reality a parallel front to Rome's divide-and-rule strategy.
When Cardinal Bea stated that 'no concessions in dogma can be made by the
Church for the sake of Christian Unity', he was simply reiterating Rome's
belief about itself. Any movement or concession is only ever on the part
of the subsidiaries, since the centre is infallible.
-
- There are significant structural parallels between the
Roman religious system and the political subsidiarity principle, which
is itself a concept of papal origin. In the theory of ecclesial authority,
an important part is played by the concept of the representation of One
Christ, who combined in himself all the offices for the dispensation of
salvation (prophet, priest and king). If the Church is ruled by God, then
God must necessarily flow down from above, step by step, so at the apex
of human order there must be a single channel, directed by God himself,
and only at the lower levels could the streams of God's will begin to branch
into subsidiary levels. Subsidiarity was designed not to permit the tributaries
to 'claw back' what may best be performed at a lower level, but to permit
the infallible centre to decide what freedoms to grant the subsidiary levels.
Whether it be termed federalism or centralism, 'subsidiarity' denotes the
downward devolvement of certain powers for the practical outworking of
the Supreme Power's objectives.
-
- There is much debate about whether the EU is a democracy,
a theocracy, an oligarchy or a collective dictatorship, but at root it
is none of these. It is an amphictyony - a confederation of states established
around a religious centre. A Catholic EU will inevitably result in the
subjugation of Britain's Protestant ethos to Roman Catholic social, political
and religious teachings. The Queen's coronation oath 'to govern the peoples
of the United Kingdom according to their laws and customs' and 'to maintain
the Protestant Reformed religion established by law' is negated by the
process of deeper European integration. It is almost a symbolic confirmation
of the Queen's vassal status that a 20p coin of Gibraltar bears an engraving
of Mary crowned 'Our Lady of Europa' - the suzerain spiritual authority
- while the Queen is stripped of her usual titles DG, REG., FD - Queen
by the Grace of God, Defender of the Faith.
-
- Under the constitution for Europe, the EU will have a
Catholic Caesar presiding over the Protestant monarch. The former Belgian
prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak once made a plea for 'a man of sufficient
stature to hold the allegiance of all people' and added, 'Be he God or
the Devil we will receive him.' The allegiance of the Queen's subjects
is usurped by the demand for allegiance to the suzerain power; a spiritually
unifying allegiance which is primary, for without the unity of the demos,
the European vision will die. Accession to the constitution for Europe
would finally confirm that the United Kingdom yields to the suzerain European
Ecumenical Community - an empire in which everything belongs to Caesar,
and where Caesar is God. Rendering the euro unto him would be all that
remains for this vassal state to perform.
-
- Adrian Hilton is a former parliamentary candidate and
author of The Principality and Power of Europe. He teaches Philosophy and
Religious Studies. He is an approved candidate for the Conservative party.
-
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-08-30&id=3450
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-
-
- Comment
From CM Ross
9-3-3
-
- Hi Jeff,
-
- Have you ever looked up the English Saints named William
and Harry at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/indexsnt.htm ? Most of
them were partially hanged, castrated, and then cut in 4 pieces for the
crime of being Catholic. Somehow I don't think they were too happy when
"England finally rid itself of papal interference in the Bill of Rights
of 1689" as your article stated.
-
- I am sad that despite centuries of persecution and suppression,
the English still regard their Catholic heritage as something to be vilified
and attacked as a threat to their sovereignty. The English have had kings
who were saints, such as St. Edward the Confessor. One of the Popes said
that if the charges against her could be settled, there might be a cause
for the canonization of Mary Queen of Scots, the legitimate queen of England,
because she was beheaded for the Catholic religion. St. Alphonsus de Liguori
said that 30 English kings and queens gave up their crowns to enter religious
life. Obviously, they did not regard the Pope as a threat to their nation's
future.
-
- Sincerely,
Christine Ross
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