Pope Leo XIV’s Metz Address: How Christian Heritage Frames EU Unity Amid Colonial Legacy and Geopolitical Power Struggles
Original framing: “Pope Leo ends France trip in Metz, spotlighting Schuman and EU unity” — Africa News
The Schuman Declaration (1950), which the Pope references, was not a neutral act of post-war reconciliation but a strategic move to reassert European economic dominance under the guise of peace. The EU’s founding treaties were negotiated without input from African or Asian colonies, whose resources and labor were critical to Europe’s recovery. Historical parallels include the League of Nations’ failure to address colonialism, which foreshadows the EU’s current struggles with migration and trade justice. The Pope’s call for unity ignores how European wars (e.g., World War I) were fueled by colonial rivalries, and how modern conflicts (e.g., in the Sahel) are often extensions of these legacies.
The Pope’s address in Metz performs a delicate balancing act: it invokes Christian heritage to legitimize the EU’s unity while critiquing the 'desire for domination' that has historically fueled European wars and colonialism.
Yet this framing is a masterclass in *selective memory*—ignoring how the EU’s institutions were built on the very structures of domination he condemns. The trickster in this tale is the EU itself, which presents itself as a moral force while its economic policies deepen global inequalities. To move forward, unity must be redefined through *restorative justice*—not just dialogue. This requires centering Indigenous and postcolonial voices, auditing the EU’s colonial legacies, and linking climate reparations to institutional reform. The Pope’s call for dialogue is a start, but it must be met with the radical honesty of Anansi’s webs: unity built on domination is not unity at all, but a house of cards waiting to collapse under its own weight.