How to Save Europe

   

(Zenit.org) - The original idea of the European Union has deep roots in Catholic social teaching, according to the author of a book on Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the institution. 

Catholic historian Alan Fimister, author of "Robert Schumann: Neo-scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe," published by Peter Lang, affirms that Schuman's actions in 1950 to found what would later be the European Union were, to a remarkable degree, the conscious implementation of the Neo-Thomistic project of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903).

In this interview with ZENIT, Fimister discusses the Catholic vision of the European Union's founders and what it means for a Catholic understanding of the European Union today....

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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  I've written on this before, but since then every major EU leader has publicly admitted that multiculturalism is a failure.  The pope has publicly prayed that God will spare Europe from extinction.  What many dismissed as the Knight's musings on a problem that didn't really exist has now been verified by every major European leader.  So, now that I'm in good company again, The Catholic Knight will once again identify the problem, and then spell out a solution that is guaranteed to work.  The only thing stopping it from working would be failure to implement it.

THE PROBLEM Europe is now experiencing is demographic in nature.  It is a problem that WILL get worse in the years ahead, unless Europe acts quickly to change the course of it's future.  The problem is directly caused by multiculturalism, which is a logical extension of moral relativism when it comes to immigration policy.  You see, after World War II, most Europeans began to lose faith in their Christian roots as a people. They not only lost faith in Christ personally, but socially as a people as well.  This is not to say every European fits this description, but a vast majority of them do.  Now with this loss of faith what followed was a decline in the number of children.  You see, prior to World War II, virtually every Christian denomination (with the exception of Anglicanism) taught that artificial birth control was morally wrong.  After World War II many Christian denominations (with the exception of the Catholic Church) loosened it's teaching on this, allowing for artificial contraception.  The fact that most Christian denominations caved in on this social issue is incidental, because at around the same time most Europeans were turning away from their Christian faith anyway.  This collective trend caused the birth rate in European nations to plummet.  Simultaneously, European nations had implemented sweeping socialist policies throughout the continent, creating a welfare state to care for the poor, sick and elderly.  This in itself might not have been too big of a problem were it not for the declining population due to the falling birthrate.  European nations were immediately confronted with the problem of not having enough revenue from younger taxpayers to cover their entitlement obligations.  Since European governments couldn't force people to make more babies, indeed they couldn't even bribe them (because they tried), they were left with no choice but to import new taxpayers with loose immigration laws.  Since multiculturalism was the rule of the day, European nations opened their doors wide to massive floods of North African and Arab Muslims.  These Muslims refused to integrate with European culture, and instead maintained their Muslim beliefs along with their Muslim birthrates.  The average native European birthrate was less than 2 children per household.  While the average Muslim European birthrate was approximately 8 children per household.  Do the math!  This is why many sociologists agree that Europe will be a Muslim majority before 2050, and some Euro nations will hit that landmark by 2030 -- within just 20 years!  This is why the leaders of England, France and Germany have just this year publicly admitted that multiculturalism is a failure, and the pope has recently prayed to God publicly that Europeans would be spared from becoming a "non-people."

THE SOLUTION is simple.  Europe only needs to do three things.  First, the European Union, and hopefully all European nations along with it, need to make some kind of non-binding legal resolution simply recognizing the Christian origins of modern Europe.  Both popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have stated this is necessary toward healing the wounds of moral relativism and multiculturalism on the European continent.  Second, the European Union, along with every EU member-state, must give a "most favored" immigration status to North Americans with European ancestry dating back 100 years.  A quick review of 20th century history shows that massive waves of European immigrants entered the United States and Canada over the last 100 years.  This migration resulted in a great collective loss to the European continent.  It was a gain for North America, and a loss for Europe.  That tide can be reversed IF Europe wants it to be.  It can be done by making a simple law of jus sanguinis (Latin: "right of blood"), stating that any North American, under the age of 50, who can trace his/her ancestry to a European citizen within the last 100 years, has the right to immediate return to his ancestral country, application for EU citizenship, and a fast-track path toward citizenship within his ancestral country.  Third, The EU must stabilize the value of the Euro by backing it with a commodity with intrinsic value.  That could be gold, silver, copper or something of similar real worth.  The reason why this needs to be done is because the United States dollar is about to implode, and in fact, in spite of Europe's current sovereign debt crisis and impending defaults, the US dollar is in a much more vulnerable position due to the massive national debt of the United States.  By setting the Euro to something of intrinsic value immediately, the EU could stabilize the Euro while the dollar is suffering from major inflation over the coming years.  This economic instability in the United States will cause many Americans and Canadians to look elsewhere for a better standard of living.  Both Americans and Canadians are generally more religious than Europeans, so an EU non-binding recognition of Christianity will make Europe more attractive in a social sense.  While jus sanguinis laws, coupled with a stable Euro, will make for quick access to a potentially better standard of living.  This will likely result in massive immigration of Americans and Canadians with direct European ancestry back to Europe.  Virtually all of them will either have families already, or else be of age to start having children immediately.  Simultaneously, the loss of large population segments of this type in North America will keep the United States and Canada in an economic tailspin while the EU will find itself in the middle of the biggest economic boom in centuries.  The population of European Christians will increase dramatically and the need for Muslim immigration will cease to exist.

The problem is real and the plan will work.  The only question is this.  Are Europeans smart enough to implement it?