Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the European Union bishops’ conference association Comece, has said migration is the most worrying issue now facing Europe.
The Munich archbishop, a member of the eight-strong Council of Cardinals that advises Pope Francis, said the Pope’s visit to Lampedusa in July had helped focus public attention to the issue.
Bishops at the 13-15 Nov meeting in Brussels agreed EU migration policy needed to show “greater flexibility and a sensitivity to human needs”.
Cardinal Marx also expressed concern over unemployment and the rise of nationalism and populism in the run-up to next year's elections to the European Parliament, a trend he said the Church should work against by recalling the Christian values at the heart of the EU project.
He said “neither statesmen, politicians nor civil servants” had a solution to Europe’s economic crisis and there was “little creative thinking” about the ethical principles needed for an open and prosperous democracy. “We must reflect on whether this is an area for a contribution from the Church,” he said.
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