“I do hope that we will vote to remain; I would be really disappointed if we left because it is clear that we would isolate ourselves and we would leave one of the most successful political constructions in the history of mankind. I will certainly put a tick in the box next to ‘remain a member of the European Union’”. A few hours before the opening of the polling stations for the EU referendum, Bishop William Kenney, in charge of European Affairs at the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has no doubts. “I believe that it would be really sad if the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, for when we look at the rest of the world, it is clear that any country works better with others than in isolation. The European ‘common home’ has guaranteed peace in Europe for over seventy years”, the Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham added. “A poor electoral campaign is about to come to an end, with excessive tones, on both sides of the debate, and with made-up figures about the number of migrants from the EU and the UK’s contribution to Brussels, where the messenger has been killed without his message being heard”. “It also seems unbelievable to me that a split that has always existed in the Tories, between pro- and anti-Europeans, has led to a referendum that risks derailing both the European project and our economy”, the Bishop concluded.