The Bible depicts the Whore of Babylon-which represents false religion- sitting on the Beast, signifying that she plays a principal role. Religion does play a part in European politics. Its precepts provided the ideology that prompted the European Union’s formation. Religion has a voice in European politics through the Christian Democratic and Socialist political parties, which elect statesmen who share their beliefs. The leaders of these parties become the political representatives of their churches. During the French Revolution, as Democracy spread through Europe, so did Christian political parties. Most of these parties were Catholic. The Christian Democratic political movement would defend the Church’s ultimate interests. This political party assumed responsibility for the social services that the Church was no longer in a position to provide. The Whore in part sits on the Beast through the Christian political parties that are responsible for the European Union’s formation and evolution. While Christian doctrine founded America, the Whore’s precepts provide the ideological basis for the formation of the final world power’s government.
Catholic ideals influenced the European Union’s founders. During World War II, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and Alcide de Gasperi, each man exemplary Catholics, had been hunted by Nazis and Fascists. De Gasperi-the founder of the Christian Democratic Party in Italy, and a militant Catholic activist and anti-fascist-became premier of Italy in 1945. He believed that the party man remained linked with his spiritual mother, the Church. His theological convictions influenced his public and private actions.
German Chancellor Konrad Adenaeur helped found the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Germany in 1945. He “typified a Catholic Germany in contrast to a pagan Germany.” In 1949, the Frenchman Robert Schuman became France’s foreign minister. He had wanted to become a priest, but gave the idea up to serve his faith in other ways. For him, politics was a priestly duty. All three men were politicians with high ideals. Pope Pius XII, who held strong political beliefs, sought to aid the cause of peace with the help of fellow Catholics. He and the leaders of the Christian Democratic parties formulated a plan. For the first time, leaders of the Catholic Church headed the French, Italian, and German governments. The Christian Democratic political parties aroused hopes of a new Christianity. The movement arranged religious gatherings where they planned political action. Vatican Europe became part of the political scene.
Religion influenced the European Union’s formation through political leaders who embraced its precepts. These men acted as key players in the Union’s formation. They held the highest positions in its newly established organizations. Robert Schuman became the first president of the European Commission in 1958. Alcide de Gasperi held the presidential post of the ECSC Common Assembly in 1954. Monsignor Pierre Raffin, the Bishop of Metz, in Schuman’s native Lorraine, launched a campaign for his beatification; the first step on the way to sainthood. Some Christian Democratic members of the European Parliament backed the initiative. Of Jacques Delors, the former EU Commission president, Stanley Hoffman, who writes on European Union affairs, wrote: “A former official of the French labor union inspired by progressive Catholic thought, he exemplifies the synthesis of Christian democracy and socialism on which the Community was built.” One’s religious convictions greatly affect one’s political beliefs.
For more from Erika Grey on the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17 see:
http://voices.yahoo.com/revelation-chapter-17-great-whores-10503823.html?cat=9
http://voices.yahoo.com/revelation-chapter-17-babylonian-religion-10501155.html?cat=9
http://voices.yahoo.com/revelation-chapter-17-whore-10501049.html?cat=9