The paper explores the specific political relations between the European Union and the Roman Catholic Church. However, it starts from the premise that it is no longer sufficient to simply describe the evolution of their relations or to point to European integration being inspired by the Church. Nor does it suffice to show the link between the religious adherence of the founding fathers of the Communities and the Communities themselves. Instead, the paper approaches the relationship from the perspective of (mainly) Schmittian political theology, which has experienced a return to the academic limelight in recent years, connecting the Church''s views of modern political concepts and institutional forms with its theological claims. Four clusters of such concepts will be explored. These will be centered on (1) secularism, (2) the individual(ism), (3) free market, and (4) the state. The conclusion will focus on the relation between the RCC''s theological imagination and the EU''s political form as well as on the limits of the application of political theology to current politics. Methodologically, the paper builds on a discourse analysis of almost two hundred documents released by the three key Church bodies which often comment on the EU: the Commission of the Bishops'' Conferences of the European Community, the Council of European Bishops'' Conferences, and the Curia.
