The Church as an Institution, the Church as a Community of Believers: The Case of EU Institutions

The paper focuses on the political interactions between the Catholic Church and various EU institutions. While the Church´s objectives and its activities are always linked to its more general vision and its political theology, the accents differ depending on the different channels of political engagement: The first, of these channels is the institutionalized level of the relations (the official diplomatic and institutional ties) and the second, is the less formal level of relations, mostly represented by the activities of lay Catholics including the political professionals within the EU institutions. The paper explores both the differences and the connections between the two levels and the particular ways in which their Catholic identities and theologies impact the relationship. Finally, the case of the Catholic interactions with EU institutions is used for a more general theoretical discussion, providing an overview of the possible conceptual tools for the analysis of the religious actors´ political involvement.