VATICAN CITY, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- As European leaders strove to finalize a new EU constitution Pope John Paul II made a last minute bid to add a reference to Christianity.
On Friday he urged two European diplomats accredited to the Vatican to "support the efforts of the Holy See to ensure that the European constitution acknowledged Christianity's role at the heart of the continent and its future."
The pope has waged a long campaign to include an acknowledgement of Europe's Christian roots in the preamble of the constitution. But there was no indication this week that the 25 current and newly admitted EU member states planned to take up the issue, on which they are deeply divided.
Supporters include Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and several other countries, but secularist France leads the opposition.
One argument raised against such a reference is that it would have to be balanced by similar mentions of Judaism and Islam.
In a speech at Rome University Thursday the pope declared that, "Truth and Christian values were, for a long time, the basis for the real foundation of European society. ... It's a legacy not only of the past. At the moment when the nations of Europe are on the verge of taking on a new shape, it's imperative that Christian truth should be acknowledged and reaffirmed."
