Pope Francis made an address at the European Parliament yesterday and lamented the policies of the European Union of old; a post-war climate which relished and protected human rights, dignity and solidarity.
The pope hit out at "tragic consequences" emanating from European debt crisis, which among other things, fostered the "disease of loneliness" in an ever more acute way. This now "common disease" was “suffered by the elderly, visible in the lost gaze of migrants [and] the young, who lack clear points of reference and opportunities for the future”, he said.
In the first papal visit to the European Parliament in over a quarter of a century, the pope reiterated how once at the heart of Europe there was “confidence in man ... in men and women as persons endowed with transcendent dignity”.
Instead - he iterated to the parliament - Europe’s citizens have lost trust in the institutions; the EU’s once “great ideas” of peace, freedom and dignity, since replaced with an obsession for rules and bureaucratic technicalities that have fomented mistrust, and proved “downright harmful”.
Our "selfish lifestyles ... marked by opulence which is no longer sustainable" and a political debate overtaken by technical and economic questions, as opposed to a narrative containing a "genuine concern for human beings", now characterise the EU’s machine.
It was in the context of men and women as "cogs in a machine", that the pope restated the church’s strict opposition to euthanasia and abortion: “Whenever a human life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded with few qualms, as in the case for the terminally ill, the elderly who are abandoned, and the children who are killed in the womb,” he said.
The European Parliament said that Pope Francis's address yesterday was remarkably different in culture and climate to the one Pope John the II addressed back in 1988; the latter watching bemused, at an unruly Ian Paisley decry him and the Holy See, as the anti-Christ.
Rather, the last five years of economic crisis have been deeply traumatic for European citizens, and the consequences of recent EU austerity policies, deeply ‘tragic’, said the Pope.
A growing mistrust by citizens of the European institutions has led to an impression of an aged, weary union – a Europe which is now the “grandmother ... no longer fertile and vibrant", he depicted.
In a remarkably unsanitised address, Pope Francis condemned too, European policies with respect to vulnerable people outside its jurisdiction, referring to the unsympathetic governmental policies and language used in the debate on immigration, in all corners of the union. He called for a united debate on the issue; demanding the dignity of those fleeing persecution, and seeking refuge from the shores of Mediterranean be respected.
“We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery! The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with men and women who need acceptance and assistance,” he urged.
Speaking to the plight of religious minorities – in particular, Christians under threat amid sectarian violence, the pope highlighted injustices occurring under the “shameful and complicit silence of many”. He referred to the instances of “barbaric violence”– no doubt thinking of communities in Syria and Iraq - where civilians were being "crucified, burned alive and beheaded".
To rapturous applause and a standing ovation, he concluded, rallying for a Europe that "cares for, defends and respects every man and woman", returns to the pursuits of “lofty ideals” and is a once again “precious point of reference for all humanity”.
