Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis told members of the European Parliament they must end the treatment of ‘the unborn, terminally ill, and the elderly’ as objects and embrace a new fairer immigration policy of acceptance.

The Holy Father was speaking this morning at the European Parliament in Strasbourg during a brief visit meant to highlight his vision for Europe a quarter-century after St John Paul II travelled there to address a continent still divided by the Iron Curtain.

The Pope said Europeans were ‘too tempted to throwaway lives we don’t see as ‘useful.’ Upholding the dignity of the person means acknowledging the value of the gift of human life.’

He also called for action following the deaths of thousands of migrants by drowning.

“We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery,” he said. “The absence of mutual support within the European Union runs the risk of encouraging particularistic solutions to the problem, solutions which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing social tensions.”

The Holy Father spoke of a need to reinvigorate Europe, describing the continent as a ‘grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant.’

“The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions,” he said.

The Pope will make a second address later today to the Council of Europe.

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Pic: PA