Brussels: Barrios Prieto advocates for the Jewish and Christian roots of the continent in the European Parliament

Context

The COMECE, Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, continues its patient work of anchoring Catholicism in the Brussels institutions. In July 2026, Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, its Secretary General, was invited by the European People's Party to speak at a working lunch at the European Parliament on the future of Jewish and Christian communities in Europe.

The Facts

According to the report circulated by the COMECE, Father Barrios Prieto's intervention follows the recurrent positions of the European episcopate: reminder of the demographic and cultural weight of Jewish and Christian religious minorities, joint alert on the rise of antisemitism and institutional anti-Catholicism, demand for a European legal framework that effectively protects freedom of religion. The format, a working lunch organized by the EPP, indicates a tactical convergence with the main political family of the Parliament, without however engaging all of its positions.

Doctrinal Analysis

The articulation between Christians and Jews is based on a precise magisterial teaching. The Second Vatican Council, in Nostra Aetate (n° 4), recalled the "spiritual bond" that unites the Church to the people of Abraham, refusing any form of antisemitism and affirming the continuity of the Alliance never revoked. John Paul II, at the synagogue of Rome on April 13, 1986, went further by naming the Jews "our elder brothers in faith". This doctrine is neither negotiable nor optional: it engages the entire European life of Catholics.

Stakes for the Church and the Faithful

Here, the COMECE assumes its role as a relay: to bring to the heart of the European legislative power the joint voice of the bishops. Faced with institutional secularization and a European law that hesitates between displayed neutrality and veiled hostility to the religious fact, the space for inter-institutional dialogue remains narrow but indispensable. The EPP, long a refuge for Christian democracy inspired by Adenauer and De Gasperi, is no longer always a reliable doctrinal ally; reminding it of its roots is part of the patient work of the COMECE.

Critical Reading and Blind Spots

The exercise has its limits. The lunch format favors discreet influence over public confrontation, with the risk of a dialogue that reassures without converting. The fundamental question, that of the real status of Christianity in the preamble of the treaties, remains absent from the European calendar since the rejection of 2004. The COMECE advances; the constitutional wall remains. We also regret the absence of a binding European framework on freedom of religion, while anti-Christian incidents are progressing in several Member States.

To Reflect and Act

The French reader can inform himself about the positions of the COMECE, question his PPE MEPs on their concrete votes, support Catholic citizen initiatives in Brussels. The Catholic presence in Brussels is built through patience and fidelity, not through noise. We will continue to follow the work of the COMECE Secretariat and the joint initiatives with the Orthodox Church and European Judaism.