Source: The Sun Herald/Religion News Service
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/living/10042838.htm
On October 29, 2004 The Sun Herald/Religion News Service reported, "When European Union leaders gather in Rome to sign their new constitution today, they will rebuff Pope John Paul II and his effort to acknowledge Christianity in the historic document.
The Roman Catholic pontiff has often voiced concern about Europe's increasingly secular society. In the signing of a constitution that does not acknowledge Europe's religious history, the Vatican sees proof that the EU is distancing itself from Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.
The drafters of the constitution have made it clear for months that they would ignore the pope's tireless 2�-year campaign for explicit Christian recognition in the constitution's preamble. The pope's opponents, with France, Belgium and Finland in the forefront, argued that a reference to Christianity would have violated the principle of church-state separation. The charter, which still must be ratified by all 25 members of the enlarged EU to take effect, does uphold religious freedom, however."