The institutions of Europe are being seriously tested for the first time since the second world war Last week, groups of Catholic women walked out of church services in Poland in protest at a letter read out by priests calling for a tightening in the country’s abortion laws. As we report from Warsaw today, it is a sign of the growing influence of socially conservative Catholic values in the political sphere since the Law and Justice party was elected last October. Across Europe, political parties that mix social conservatism, nationalism and populist economics are attracting support. Law and Justice argues that a secular, liberal EU and a multi-ethnic Europe are a threat to Catholic values and sovereignty. Its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, has claimed refugees are bringing “cholera to the Greek islands, dysentery to Vienna”. Continue reading...
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