Pope Sparks Fury: EU Founder One Step Closer to Sainthood
June 25, 2021
(Express) Pope Francis on Saturday put 20th-century statesman Robert Schuman, one of the founders of modern Europe, on the path to sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. A Vatican statement said the Pope approved a decree recognizing the "heroic virtues" of Schuman, who died in 1963.
The recognition is one of the earliest stages of the long process that can lead to canonization.
The news infuriated eurosceptics across the bloc.
AfD German MEP Dr. Gunnar Beck blasted:
"The left-wing policymaking continues in the Vatican: Pope Francis wants to make Robert Schuman, one of the founders of the EU, a saint! Above all, Schuman wanted to protect the French steel industry against German competition!"
Mr. Schuman's work was instrumental in the founding of today's European institutions, such as the European Union. Mr. Schuman, who served as French prime minister and foreign minister in the immediate post-World War II period, also played a role in the founding of NATO. In 1950 the "Schuman Plan" proposed a supranational community for coal and steel.
Story by Alessandra Scotto Di Santolo for Express
Photo used under Wikimedia Commons License
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