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Catholic Culture, christendom, Europe, Europe is the Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Pope Francis, the West is Europe
Recently our Holy Father Francis remarked in a French interview:
The only continent that can bring about a certain unity to the world is Europe. China has perhaps a more ancient, deeper, culture. But only Europe has a vocation towards universality and service.
In my post The West is Europe and Europe is the Empire I made very much the same point:
Europe is a fundamentally Catholic idea, which did not exist until Christian times, though it was foreshadowed in the old Roman Empire…. It is [Europe’s] duty to spread Catholic Civilization, to bring salvation to all who will heed it, and to pray for those who will not.
Furthermore I made the point that:
Wherever Western Civilization has spread, there is Europe, and wherever there is Catholic Europe, there is the Holy Roman Empire.
Now our Holy Father goes on to say in the same interview:
If Europe wants to rejuvenate, it is necessary for it to find anew its cultural roots. Of all Western countries, the European roots are the strongest and deepest. By the way of colonization, these roots even reached the New World. But, by forgetting its history, Europe weakens itself. It is then that it risks becoming an empty place.
It is exactly because Europe has forgotten its history, forgotten the meaning of the Holy Empire, that Europe is now losing its greatness. As I said in the post What Made the West Great? this greatness had nothing to do with superior genetics or theories of that ilk, but was itself the gift of Divine Providence. And now this great truth is all but forgotten or suppressed, even by many of the Right. Yet while we of Christendom remember the truth (though we are yet few) there is still hope.
As a final reflection, our Pontiff remarked:
We can speak today of an Arab invasion. It is a social fact.” … “How many invasions Europe has known throughout its history! It has always known how to overcome itself, moving forward to find itself as if made greater by the exchange between cultures.
If one remembers the Crusades, it can be said with certainty that Christendom has always taken what was good from every culture (even Islam) and perfected it, forging Catholic culture ever stronger and anew.
Addendum: Unity in Subsidiarity
Apparently, Our Holy Father also said in his interview:
The best globalization would be quite a polyhedron. All are united, but every people, every nation, retains its identity, its culture, its wealth.
Which of course is the unity of the Holy Roman Empire, based on the principle of Subsidiarity, with Emperor uniting the Sovereign nations of Christendom.
“it can be said with certainty that Christendom has always taken what was good from every culture (even Islam) and perfected it, forging Catholic culture ever stronger and anew.”
This is very true. An example would be the Chivalric orders of Knights that was the combining of Pagan warrior culture with that of Christian teaching.
I read your exchange over at Bonalds blog. Can I ask in a nutshell how you view multiculturalism. Id have to agree with you about the dangerous of nationalism like that Leddehin discusses in his book Leftism. But isn’t it necessary to a degree to have some form of ethnic homogeneity? I in no way advocate for this “pan-whitism” that White Nationalists push. Under an Imperial system doesn’t diversity work somewhat better due to the fact that each Kingdom is more or less allowed to rule their people based off their traditions, yet are united under a shared Emperor and Religion?
Thoughts on the immigration crisis?
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I’m afraid that I made somewhat of a fool of myself over at Throne and Altar, as I was rather distressed at their attitudes toward the supreme Pontiff, thus I did not argue rationally.
We did talk about multiculturalism before, and I explained the concepts of Patria and Pietas:
” A people must bind itself to the Patria, the homeland, a legitimate government. At the same time, the people must not the neglect the Pietas, the traditions and culture of the people. Thus many peoples may exist in one Patria.”
However, the foundation of homogeneity could not ethnic in form, as that would simply end in one ethnicity imposing its Pietas on the others. Rather, the foundation of homogeneity or unity must be in a third concept, Civitas, or unifying Civilization. Civitas encompasses a distinct set of traditions from Pietas. Pietas relates to the culture of a people, whereas Civitas is the traditions of government, which not only bind the people to the Patria, but forms the framework joining the nations in the Empire. The Emperor is the head of the Civitas, the Kings (or princes or elected rulers) are the heads of the Patriae, and thus yes, diversity is preserved because each is distinct, Civitas, Patria, and Pietas, and yet united.
As to the “immigration crisis”, I see only two solutions. Either the homelands of the refugees are stabilized and they are returned there, or they are “patriated”, that is integrated into the Patria, and either made to accept an existing Pietas (culture) of their new fatherland, or given the opportunity develop a Catholic culture of their own. I don’t see either happening in the near future, but that’s not to say it can’t happen later on.
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It would be easier if the immigrants were predominantly Catholic, but they aren’t.
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True. Thus the second solution involves a large scale conversion, carried out by the Church, which seems impossible now, and indeed is from a purely material point of view. However, “With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible.”
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It would be nice if the current governments of the Occident actually cared about their populations. Maybe the Great Monarch Prophecy will come true.
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