Christian democracy has been one of the most important political traditions in modern Europe and yet today it is virtually irrelevant. Formed by the question of how Catholics should interact with liberal political structures, Christian democratic parties largely helped create the post-war order in Western Europe. Despite significant political, economic and social achievements, Christian democratic parties have failed to keep up since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and even on their own theoretical terms of pursuing a Christian vision of society it is hard to view them as anything other than failures.