{"id":2170,"date":"2026-05-01T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vaticanfiles.org\/?p=2170"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:10:45","slug":"vf254","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vaticanfiles.org\/es\/2026\/05\/vf254\/","title":{"rendered":"254. Cradle of Tradition, Advocate for Multilateral Politics. The Roman Catholic Appeal To North America and Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Roman Catholic Church attracts different people for different reasons. This simple fact has always been true. However, recent trends in global religious and political affairs are unfolding a new chapter of this old narrative. To put it in broad-brushed terms:
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Rome attracts North Americans for the traditional outlook of its religious message and Europeans for its political stance in current world events<\/em>.
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In a nutshell, the former looks at the\u00a0Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em>, i.e., the doctrinal and devotional teaching of Rome; the latter looks at the Social Doctrine of the Church (of Rome), i.e., the body of teaching especially about peace, dialogue, and international relationships, embodied by the Pope. Of course, this observation is over-simplified, but perhaps it contains an element of truth that is worth pondering on.
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The Roman Catholic Appeal To North Americans<\/em><\/strong>
Over the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in Roman Catholicism in the USA. The phenomenon of conversions to Rome has triggered some attention. Numbers are not massive, but their social media impact is noticeable.
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To some extent, Roman Catholicism has become a \u201ccool\u201d option in the public\u2019s opinion, especially to those seeking to ground their religious experience in a historical, traditional, liturgical, and (perceived as) authoritative religion.
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The impressive\u00a0work of Roman Catholic apologists targeting Evangelicals<\/a>\u00a0has played a role in presenting Rome as the cradle of classical Christianity over against the alleged bizarre novelties and shallow performances of Evangelicalism. My conviction is that the credit that Roman Catholicism has in some circles reflects a selective view or a romanticized perception of Rome itself; ultimately, it lacks biblical warrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a recent Master Class on \u201cWhy Some Evangelicals Are Tempted by Roman Catholicism and How to Respond,\u201d I suggested five steps to come to terms with these facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. \u201cWhy Do They Cross the Tiber?\u201d: Setting the Stage<\/a><\/li>
  2. \u201cTo Be Deep in History Is to Cease to Be Protestant\u201d: The Allure of Tradition\u00a0<\/a><\/li>
  3. \u201cToo Smart to Be a Protestant\u201d: The Intellectual Attraction<\/a><\/li>
  4. \u201cShallow and Consumerist Worship\u201d: The Liturgical Challenge<\/a><\/li>
  5. \u201cRecovering Biblical Christianity\u201d: The Antidote to Rome<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I am not going to summarize all the talks here. The point to be underlined is that Rome\u2019s appeal to North Americans is largely defined by an attraction to the intellectual tradition, liturgical sophistication, and institutional unity of Roman Catholicism that can be found in the teachings of the\u00a0Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em>. It is the doctrinal and devotional outlook of Rome that people look for and conform their lives to.
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    In turn, this means that the challenge that Evangelicals perceive is primarily apologetic in the classical sense, e.g., facing Roman Catholic arguments on the biblical canon, the authority of Scripture, the papacy, Mariology, the sacraments, and salvation. Most North American Evangelical responses to the Roman Catholic appeal have tried to be apologetic in this sense. They do so by covering these traditional topics of the debate between Roman Catholicism and the Evangelical faith. While they address single issues with various degrees of competency, what is still lacking is an appreciation of Roman Catholicism as a system in which doctrines, practices, institutions, etc., are all integrated into a whole that is not committed to Scripture alone and to faith alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    The Roman Catholic Appeal to Europeans<\/em><\/strong>
    If we cross the Atlantic, we see a significantly different picture. Here, Roman Catholicism has a long tradition and, in some parts (e.g., Southern and Central Europe), is still the majority religion and a pervasive presence in society. However, the powerful blows of secularization have hit hard over the last fifty years. Roman Catholic buildings are everywhere, but they tend to be empty. Roman Catholic practice is low, and traditional identity-markers (e.g., processions, festivals) are blurred. Most people still consider themselves attached to a cultural form of Roman Catholicism, but their lifestyle is disconnected from the moral teachings of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While pockets exist here and there (e.g., in France and Great Britain) where adult baptisms have recently risen, the overall picture is bleak. Generally speaking, in Europe, there are few or no Roman Catholic apologists (as they can be found in the US) because there is little interest in what the Roman Church believes, and there is no wide-spread desire to embrace a fully orbed form of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice. The online presence is marked by the willingness to present Roman Catholicism as a religion of dialogue with all and inter-faith reconciliation. The main message of the still impactful educational institutions focuses on freedom, justice, beauty, solidarity, etc., with little direct connection to Roman Catholic dogmas and commitments. Belonging seems detached from believing, let alone behaving.

    There is another side of the coin, however. In recent weeks and months, the centrality of the public voice of the Roman Catholic Church has regained some traction against the background of the rapid decline of the mood in the US-Europe relationships that used to be friendly but are now marked by tensions. The second Trump administration has exacerbated negative impressions by Europeans on the unpredictability of US foreign policy, e.g., tariffs, Greenland, and Canada. The US support for Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon has fueled anti-American sentiments in significant portions of the European youth. Lastly, the US military intervention against Iran has been seen negatively by the European public opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    With the US losing its moral high ground gained during the Second World War, with the United Nations having practically disappeared from the scene, and with the European Union being disunited and disoriented, the only voice addressing global issues with a comprehensive perspective is that of the Roman Catholic Pope. Europeans resonate with Pope Leo XIV when he speaks about peace, reconciliation, immigration, multilateral dialogue, diplomatic efforts, solidarity among nations, respect for international law, and against war and exploitation. These are some of the themes of the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC) that Vatican diplomacy strongly advocates for.
     
    Now, European support and identification with the Pope stops when the Roman Pontiff speaks on other topics of the SDC, e.g., abortion, marriage, and euthanasia. Their secular mindset is far away, if not contrary to, the traditional moral teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Not so with its social teaching applied to international politics and global issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In times of media polarization, the one who is resisting Trump and pushing back against the US international politics is the highest voice of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope is seen as the global moral authority who speaks on behalf of peace, the migrants, and unity and against violence, war, and division. Europeans are attracted by this political and social face of Roman Catholicism, certainly not by its doctrinal and devotional message.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    The reality is that Rome is trying to fill the moral\/social gap that secularization has left behind. The Roman Catholic Church has both the Catechism<\/em> and the Social Doctrine. It has the doctrinal card and the social card to play. With the former, it attracts North Americans questioning Evangelicalism; with the latter, it appeals to secularized Europeans navigating a moral void. The two cards are played by the same Church that can handle different games at the same time.
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    In the European context, the Evangelical response to Roman Catholicism cannot simply rehearse the traditional apologetic points, e.g., justification by faith alone and the authority of Scripture, which are based on the doctrinal discourse. Of course, they are essential because they are the grounds of the theological commitments of the Christian faith. Yet in Europe, on the basis of these biblical pillars, Evangelicals need to develop a robust public theology that addresses issues of how the biblical worldview speaks into the social and political issues of our world. They also need to articulate them in a persuasive way by credible voices. \u00a0
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    This is to say that while the Evangelical interpretation of Roman Catholicism should remain anchored in Scripture and always aim to see Catholicism as a system, the strategies for addressing it may change according to context. In the present-day US context, the focus seems\u00a0more doctrinal and devotional, whereas in the European context, attention should be given more to issues of public theology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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