Catholic Church's political influence to grow
By Lisbeth Kirk
The increased role of the Catholic Church in an enlarged Europe is leading to calls for more light to be shone on its influence over policy making.
"We need to know how religious values may influence politicians, the labour market, family policies and development politics in the enlarged EU", Danish theologian Lene Sjørup said in an interview in Berlingske Tidende on Sunday.
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She said the well-organised Catholic Church’s lobbyists and advisers had long left the Evangelical and Protestant churches behind and urged more transparency in the way that politics is influenced by the Church.
Mrs Sjørup, an independent researcher, added that she expected the Catholic Church to play an important role in international reconciliation processes but also that it would seek to influence family policies in the EU - and in the United Nations as well.
"The Catholic Church wants to preserve the traditional family, even though family patterns in Europe are much more with single mothers and registered partnerships", she said.
Catholics seek to ban abortion and active euthanasia she pointed out and said the legislation on biotechnology could also be affected.
The majority of EU countries are Catholic while the Evangelical/Protestant churches mainly dominate the Northern part of the European Union.
