Pope Francis Proposes a Cure for Populism

Last Friday, twenty-seven heads of state gathered in Rome to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the treaty that established the European Economic Community, the progenitor of the European Union. Perhaps because of the setting, it seemed natural that Pope Francis should address them; he did so in the Sala Regia, the elegant barrel-vaulted hall adjacent to the Sistine Chapel. Francis is the beleaguered E.U.'s staunchest defender, and he rallied his audience by recalling the founders' spirit. “In a world that was all too familiar with the tragedy of walls and divisions, it was clearly important to work for a united and open Europe, and for the removal of the unnatural barrier that divided the continent from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic,” he said. “What efforts were made to tear down that wall! Yet today the memory of those efforts has been lost.” Francis rattled off the economic, social, institutional, and humanitarian crises facing Europe, but he had no need to mention explicitly the most pressing crisis of all—Brexit, which comes to a head this week, as Prime Minister Theresa May (who was not in Rome) formally begins Britain's withdrawal from the E.U.