Corridors of Power

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every Sunday. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives.

NEVER GIVE UP -- Pope Benedict XVI has marked the 50th anniversary of the European Union by reviving the Vatican's campaign to have a reference to Europe's Christian roots included in the draft constitution. Speaking in the Vatican Saturday, Pope Benedict called on Catholic politicians to challenge "the secularists who want to keep quiet about the Christian culture in Europe and in the world."

Elaborating on one of his top concerns, he said, "One cannot think of building an authentic house of Europe if one neglects the identity of Europe's people" -- an identity "which Christianity helped to forge, thereby acquiring not only a historic, but a fundamental role in Europe." On his instructions, Vatican diplomats in European capitals are back on the offensive pressing for an amendment to the preamble to the currently stalled document that would reflect 2,000 years of Christian predominance in European culture and society.