Francis urges ‘haggard’ Europe to be revitalised by its roots

THE POPE has set out his vision for a revitalised Europe in which he emphasises the dignity of human life, of work, of migrants and the importance of protecting the environment, writes Abigail Frymann Rouch.

He addressed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe in a four-hour visit to Strasbourg on Tuesday, the first by a pope since St John Paul II in 1988, whose message then focused on the plight of Europeans behind the Iron Curtain.

Francis received a standing ovation for his, at times, hard-hitting address to lawmakers. President of the Parliament Martin Schulz praised him as “someone who gives us guidance at a time when we have lost our compass”.

The Latin American Pope said the continent “seems to give the impression of being somewhat elderly and haggard”. He continued: “We encounter a general impression … of a Europe which is now a ‘grandmother’, no longer fertile and vibrant.” He urged the EU to return to the firm conviction of its founders, who envisaged a peace project built around persons endowed with transcendent dignity, not around people seen as economic units.

“A Europe which is no longer open to the transcendent dimension of life is a Europe which risks slowly losing its own soul and that ‘humanistic spirit’ which it still loves and defends,” he said.

“Appreciating its religious roots,” he said, would also make it more immune to the various forms of extremism spreading “not least as a result of the great vacuum of ideals which we are currently witnessing in the West”.

In a clear reference to the brutality of Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Iraq and Syria, Francis mentioned “Christians in particular” who are sold into slavery and even beheaded or crucified “under the shameful and complicit silence of so many”. However, on the plane back to Rome from Strasbourg, Francis told journalists that he would “never close the door” on dialogue with IS. “I never count anything as lost. Never,” he said.

He added that “terrorism” could also describe the actions of some national governments using military force unilaterally.

Earlier in Strasbourg, he urged Europe to rediscover “the best of itself” and voiced concern at inequality rooted in “an opulence which is no longer sustainable and frequently indifferent to ... the poorest of the poor”.