IN THE Europe of 2017, can there be such a thing as a Catholic political leader? That seems like a topical question in a year when the European Union is being shaken to its foundations and at least three European democracies (France, Germany, the Netherlands) face elections in which issues of culture and identity loom large.
Before even thinking about the matter, it is worth recalling that Europe's transnational institutions, as they emerged after 1945, were deeply Catholic in inspiration. Devout statesmen such as Robert Schuman of France, Italy's Alcide De Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer of Germany (pictured, left to right) laid the groundwork for a new continental order in which national divisions would be overcome and Western Europe, at least, would stand firm against totalitarianism. Politicians who had resisted fascism, in the name of their Catholic faith, were seen as well-placed to oppose the new menace of atheist communism, and the movement known as Christian Democracy took shape.
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