Comment on opposition to Turkey's accession to the European Union

Britain's leading Catholic the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, followed the Pope's lead and expressed doubts over the positive impact that allowing a predominately Muslim country into the European Union, such as Turkey, would have.

Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia said: "Trying to conjure up tenuous Christian majorities is not a game the churches should be playing. The clear reality of modern Europe is that it is predominantly secular, and that its religious past is diverse and contested. Rather than trying to police the boundaries of the EU, Christian leaders should seek to practice hospitality – as the Cardinal has in relation to migrant workers."