"The Church has always viewed the unity of Europe positively, even today.

"Nationalism is one of the biggest causes of war," adds Marx, who is the President of the German Bishops' Conference.

During a recent visit to Poland to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the Solidarity movement which played an important role in establishing a democratic Polish state, Marx said he thinks European "interconnectedness necessitates that we stand up for each other so that something positive can be the outcome."

With Brexit on the horizon, progress towards a "social Europe" should be made, Marx suggested.

The challenges and tensions Europe faces due to migration mean it is essential the European Union's (EU) member states "develop common guidelines for a refugee and migration policy," Marx said.

"We are interconnected with each other through various forms of solidarity.

"Through the European Union, for example, through treaties, through parliament, through guiding principles.

"We can't do this without each other.

"Europe does not run by itself. I believe that the Church must never cease working or doing something for the unity of Europe.

"As a church, we should stand up for a society of responsible freedom. That is why democracy is the mode of governance to be sought."

Source

• The Tablet
• Crux Now
• Image: i on europe

Hundreds came to services to see a translucent fragment that belongs to one of the earliest martyrs to religious freedom. The then-Archbishop of Canterbury was slain at his altar in 1170 by Henry II's knights, to whom the king had uttered the fateful words: "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?"

So far, so twenty-first century. The parallels with Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, gunned down at the altar after a right-wing paramilitary leader issued a similar invitation to his gunslingers in 1980, are obvious.

Less obvious are the parallels with the Church and the modern British state, which are often at odds over marriage, education and the treatment of foreigners.

"St Thomas' martyrdom reminds us what can happen when the state seeks to dominate religious belief and reshape it to its own ends, to its own selection of values," warned the (Catholic) Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, at a symposium at the London headquarters of the (Anglican) Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Palace.

"When observance of those particular values becomes absolute requirements," he warned, "then we are on a path of confrontation."

The cardinal raised the ghost of that other English period of Church-state friction by citing another martyr called Thomas, who also died at the hand of a king called Henry.

After the third swordblow to his head, Thomas à Becket apparently said: "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death."

St Thomas More — who, like Becket, had once been close to the king, but who could not endorse Henry VIII's state takeover of the Church — famously said before his execution in 1535 that he died "the King's good servant, but God's first." Continue reading

Sources

• An article in Crux by Austen Ivereigh, Senior Crux Contributor.
• Image: Historic Chronicles