Europe, the birthplace of medieval Christian Civilization, will always attract the attention of Catholics throughout the world. But today's Europe appeared as one in crisis when millions marched through the streets of France expressing "solidarity" in response to an act of terrorism. The meaning of solidarity was defined in 1851 by Spanish nobleman Juan Donoso Cortés in Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism: "This responsibility which man shares in common with others is what is called solidarity; and it is one of the most beautiful and sublime revelations of Catholic dogma" [p. 160]. Thirty-five pages later he explains:

       The solidarity and unity of all men involves the idea of a responsibility of all in common. . . . Thus it is said that we have all sinned in Adam, because we are all in a common bond of solidarity with him, and that we have all been redeemed by Jesus Christ, because His merits are reversible to us [p. 195].

        Modern society has lost sight of its true solidarity which, as Donoso shows, comes only through the Catholic Church. Five years after Donoso Cortés's death in 1853, the Frenchman Louis Veuillot published a French translation of Donoso's works, and wrote in the introduction: "His thought...will acquire greater influence in proportion as the symptoms which he foresaw manifest themselves." But Donoso himself had written before his death to a friend that Catholicism, Liberalism and Socialism would not become popular until the Deluge that he foretold would inundate Europe [see Thomas P. Neill, They Lived the Faith: Great Lay Leaders of Modern Times (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co. 1951), p. 242].

        An act of terrorism, followed by demonstrations of solidarity in the streets of France, coincides with a European economic crisis resulting from the socialist policies foreseen by Donoso. The financial crisis in Greece and the announcement of "quantitative easing" or the printing of money elsewhere in Europe illustrate the result of the spiritual and political crisis foreseen for Europe by Donoso Cortés more than a century and a half ago.  Click the title below if you wish to purchase a copy of this prophetic book.