PURITAN NEWS WEEKLY
12/06/04
A MOST TELLING
PICTURE OF THE EU
At the end of October, leaders of the constituent nations of the EU
signed the new European Constitution, which moves the EU one step closer to
becoming the United States of Europe.
Here is how one newspaper reported the event:
Blair signs new EU Constitution
By Gavin Cordon,
PA News, in Rome
29 October 2004
Tony Blair joined other EU leaders today in putting his signature to the new European Constitution - as Jack Straw disclosed that the promised referendum on the treaty would not be held until 2006. The ceremony took place in the ornate surroundings of the Palazzo dei Conservatori in the heart of ancient Rome where the original treaty establishing the Common Market was signed 47 years ago. It marked the start of a two-year ratification process in which the treaty has to be accepted into law by the national parliaments of all the member states…(from http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=577287 )
The setting in Rome provides an apt picture of what is taking place in Europe: Europe is consolidating under a federal government where the Roman Catholic Church is the de facto established church. The website http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=blairsigns provides a most insightful picture of the event:
“In a day full of symbolism glorifying ancient Rome and the papacy, the most blatant symbols were reserved for the ceremony in the Orazi e Curiazi. The grainy black and white photographs of the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 show a table along one wall. But for the signing of the EU Constitution on the 29 October 2004, the whole axis of the ceremony within the room had been changed so that every statesman signed on a table draped with the EU flag while towering above him was a colossal statue of Innocent X (see picture). Meanwhile the dignitaries were serenaded by lapsed Donegal Romanist, Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, known as Enya. She is Pope John Paul II’s personal favourite and has sung for him in the Vatican…”
Here is the
picture at the website:
Meanwhile, in the Ukraine,
progress is being made towards the addition of another nation to the EU. A new run-off election is to be held within
the next several weeks, and so far the Opposition party has been expected to
win. This party is more favored in
western Ukraine and seeks integration in the EU; whereas the incumbent party is
more favored in eastern Ukraine and wants to maintain closer ties to (Orthodox)
Russia. As reported at http://theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,11529105,00.html
, “the divisions between the more
Russian-speaking, Orthodox and industrial east and the Ukrainian-speaking,
Catholic and more highly educated west will be a tough challenge for whichever
of the two Viktors becomes the final winner.”
As we have previously reported, religious as well as political issues
are at stake. Sadly, both Romanism and
Orthodoxy are religiously corrupted, so that neither side presents a Biblical
solution.
Europe is sinking ever deeper back under
Romanist domination, while Russia portrays itself as the protector of the
Orthodox. This all seems to be an echo from the past, but absent the blessings
of the Protestant Reformation.