The EU is constitutionally committed to the idea of democracy. Furthermore, every country in it is by tradition Christian, about a third being fairly strongly Catholic. Yet shortly before Christmas the European Court of Justice rebuffed an attempt to use democracy to promote Christian values.
In 2013 an Italian initiative under the aegis of Pope Francis, Uno di Noi (One of Us), called for an end to activities involving abortion or destruction of human embryos, and to any EU financing of them. The idea spread and became a “citizens’ initiative”, an EU legal procedure allowing a million or more EU citizens from at least seven member states – if they jump through bureaucratic hoops – to register and present a formal proposal for EU legislation to the Commission. The latter, however, sensing a hot political potato, refused to consider taking the matter further.
