EU risks dying, needs new vigour and passion, says Pope Francis

EU risks dying, needs new vigour and passion, says Pope Francis

Pope Francis told Europe’s leaders on Friday (March 24) the continent faced a “vacuum of values” as they marked the EU’s 60th birthday, condemning anti-immigrant populism and extremism that he said posed a mortal threat to the bloc.

Prime ministers and presidents from 27 EU member states have descended on Italy to mark the 1957 founding Treaty of Rome, receiving a papal blessing on the eve of the anniversary.

However, celebrations have been tempered by a string of crises, including prolonged economic turmoil, an influx of migrants and Britain’s decision to leave the bloc, that have raised fears for the future of the union.

The Argentinian-born pontiff told the leaders they needed to promote Europe’s “patrimony of ideals and spiritual values” with greater passion and vigour, mentioning the attack in London this week by a British-born convert to Islam, who killed four people.

Francis urged the continent not to close in on itself and resurrect walls — a message aimed as much at U.S. President Donald Trump as at EU leaders struggling to deal with mass immigration. He also decried a worrying “lapse of memory” where people see today’s immigrants fleeing war and hunger as a threat to a comfortable lifestyle, forgetting modern Europe sprang from the ashes of World War Two and mass migration.

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