Europe's "Christian roots" in the failed European Constitution project

The recognition of Christian values in the construction of contemporary Europe has encountered civil service examination. To gauge this phenomenon, a touchstone relatively close in time lies in the failed project of the European Constitution. At that time, a heated dispute arose at purpose about the possible allusion in the constitutional text to the Christian tradition as one of the elements shaping Europe.

The accredited specialization to Europe's "Christian heritage", an endeavour staff, largely by Pope John Paul II, became a controversial subject and collided with the fierce civil service examination of some members of the constitutional commission.

The constitution should not be a charter granted to a society from a superior written request , but should be based on the citizens and reflect shared values and principles. It is here that the approach to Christianity emerges as a necessary foundation for understanding the origin of the common European identity, perhaps not in today's terms, where religious and belief pluralism is growing, but as a first point of reference in the perception of a series of common values by the European peoples, which can still be particularly estimable today. 

It seems a certain fact that the discussion on the question of Europe's identity will persist in the years to come, but it is no less certain that the Union, if it wants to remedy the growing disaffection of citizens towards the Community institutions and representatives, needs to abandon the moral relativism and ambiguity of its project to address a necessary reflection on the common principles and values of Europe, not as an exclusive possession of the Old Continent, but through the acceptance of itself and of a set of values that reaffirm the European identity. Here Christianity may have an important role to play.