Pope to EU: Accept migrants

European Parliament told to shun selfish policies that risk lives and fuel social conflict

Pope Francis demanded yesterday that Europe craft a unified and fair immigration policy, saying the tens of thousands of refugees coming ashore each year need acceptance and assistance, not self- interested policies that risk lives and fuel social conflict.

Francis made the comments to the European Parliament during a brief visit meant to highlight his vision for Europe a quarter- century after St. John Paul II travelled to Strasbourg to address a continent still divided by the Iron Curtain.

Greeted with polite applause at the start of his speech and a sustained standing ovation at its finish, Francis said he wanted to bring a message of hope to Europeans distrustful of their institutions, burdened by economic crisis and spiritually adrift in a culture that he said no longer values the dignity of human beings. “A Europe which is no longer open to the transcendent dimension of life is a Europe which risks slowly losing its own soul,” he said.

In a speech that touched on some of his major priorities as pope — the need to care for the elderly, the poor and the envi- ronment — Francis called for legislators to promote policies that create jobs and accept immigrants. “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!” he said.

The Argentine Jesuit has frequently spoken out about the plight of migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

He travelled to the tiny island of Lampedusa in the summer of 2013 to show solidarity with the migrants who arrive and to honour those who have died trying — a number that Italian officials estimate to be more than 2,000 in 2014 alone. Italy, home of the Vatican, has borne the brunt of the burden of rescuing the migrants. — AP

Pope Francis told Europe’s leaders yesterday to do more to help thousands of migrants risking their lives trying to get into the continent, saying they had to stop the Mediterranean becoming “a vast cemetery”.

Addressing the European Parliament for the first time, Francis also said Europe should create jobs and not allow the bureaucracy of its institutions to suffocate the ideals which once made it vibrant.

The Argentine pope has made defence of migrants and workers a key plank of his papacy. He has attacked the global economic system for failing to share wealth and chose the tiny southern Italian island of Lampedusa, which many migrants have died trying to reach, as the venue for his first trip as pontiff. Yesterday, he called for a Europe that “revolves not around the economy but around the sacredness of the human person”.

“The time has come to promote policies which create employment, but above all there is a need to restore dignity to labour by ensuring proper working conditions,” he said.

“There needs to be a united response to the question of migration. We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery,” he said.

“The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance,” he said.