Once again the Vatican has stirred up controversy. It has let its true colors show by opposing Turkey’s accession to the European Union.
In an interview with France’s Le Figaro magazine in August, Joseph Ratzinger, one of the Roman Catholic Church’s leading cardinals, said Turkey is “in permanent contrast to Europe,” and to allow it to join the EU would be a blunder (International Herald Tribune, August 16). To back up his point, Ratzinger described the Ottoman Empire’s history of invading Europe in past centuries.
Put simply, Ratzinger discards Turkey because he sees the EU as a Christian union. He and other Catholic conservatives are concerned that allowing a predominantly Muslim secular country of nearly 70 million people into the EU would cause a loss of Europe’s Christian identity.
In the Turkish media, Ratzinger was quoted as saying that cultural riches should not be sacrificed for the sake of economic riches. His solution? Turkey could “try to set up a cultural continent with neighboring Arab countries and become the leading figure of a culture with its own identity” (EU Observer, August 16).
Turkey is gaining some support for EU membership from Germany, Britain and Spain; the decision of whether or not to begin accession negotiations will be made in December. The question is, does the EU control the Vatican, or does the Vatican control the EU? Time will soon show that the Vatican is gaining a tight grip on the EU. This is also what Bible prophecy predicts. (For more on this, see “The Unifying Power” under Editor’s Choice at www.theTrumpet.com.) That is how we know Muslim Turkey can never be part of the EU.
Additionally, the Bible prophesies that Catholic-dominated Europe will clash with an Islamic power bloc. Our free booklet The King of the South explains this truth.