“European institutions need people who know how to live a healthy secularism,” said Pope Leo XIV on September 29, 2025. He was meeting with members of the European People’s Party (EPP) working group on intercultural and interreligious dialogue at the Vatican.
The Pope praised the example set by the founding fathers of the European Union in this regard.
This was his second official meeting with prominent figures from the Old Continent, following his audience with “creative Christian minorities” on August 29.
Some 20 politicians are involved in the working group on intercultural and interreligious dialogue founded in 2014 within the European Parliament. Speaking to them, Pope Leo XIV sketched a portrait of the Christian parliamentarian. Such a parliamentarian must know how to cultivate “openness, listening, and dialogue with those who come from other backgrounds” while “always placing the human person, human dignity, and our relational and communal nature at the center.”
In his brief speech in English, the Pontiff stated, “European institutions need people who know how to live a healthy secularism.” He defined this secularism as “a style of thinking and acting that affirms the value of religion while preserving the distinction — not separation or confusion — from the political sphere.”
On August 28, when receiving some 40 elected officials from Val-de-Marne, the Pope criticized a “sometimes-misunderstood” secularism, arguing that Christianity “cannot be reduced to simple private devotion.”
The example of the founding fathers
On Monday morning, Leo XIV cited the approach of three founding fathers of the European community as an example of healthy secularism: Robert Schuman of France, Konrad Adenauer of Germany, and Alcide De Gasperi of Italy.
During his pontificate, Pope Francis had regularly referred to the “fathers of Europe.” In Strasbourg, before the European Parliament in November 2014, the Argentine pontiff praised the “firm conviction of the founding fathers” to build a future of peace and communion.
“At the heart of this ambitious political project was trust in man, not so much as a citizen or an economic subject, but as a person endowed with transcendent dignity,” he said.
The Catholic Church is currently working on the causes of canonization of Robert Schuman (1886-1963) and Alcide De Gasperi (1881-1954). In 2021, Robert Schuman was recognized as “venerable” by Rome. Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing his heroic virtues, the first step on the path to recognizing the Frenchman’s sainthood.
On February 28, Cardinal Baldassare Reina closed the diocesan inquiry into the life and heroic virtues of Alcide De Gasperi in Rome. This central figure of post-war Italy and pioneer of European integration could therefore also become venerable in the near future.
