SORRY PAPA -- EU'RE NOT WELCOME



The row over the choice of Rocco Buttiglione as a European Commissioner is an interesting one.

Mr Buttiglione's views on homosexuality and marriage may be odious to forward-thinking liberals, but to many Europeans they wouldn't be regarded as extreme.

Indeed, they're broadly in line with the teachings of Catholicism -- a religion practised by millions of people across Europe.

As the Economist has asked, if Rocco Buttiglione's beliefs lie within Catholic orthodoxy, does this mean that Catholic orthodoxy lies outside the mainstream of European beliefs?

Yet at the same time that Mr Buttiglione is coming under fire, some EU states are using the European Union’s common Christian heritage as an argument to try to exclude Turkey from joining their club.

They can't have it both ways.