Pope Francis tells EU to tear down migrant walls
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said on Friday he dreamed of a Europe in which “being a migrant is not a crime”, as he urged EU leaders to “tear down the walls” and build a fairer society.
Invoking the memory of the EU founding fathers’ pursuit of integration in the aftermath of World War II, the pontiff said they inspired because they had “dared to change radically the models” that had led to war.
“Today more than ever, their vision inspires us to build bridges and tear down walls,” he told a Vatican audience including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been at the centre of the EU’s attempts to resolve its biggest refugee crisis since the war ended in 1945. And in a rhetorical flourish with echoes of Martin Luther-King’s legendary ‘I have a dream’ speech, the pope said he dreamed of a new European humanism that embraced the poor, the elderly, the young and the sick.
“I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being,” he said.
Francis’s comments came in a speech as the 79-year-old pontiff was presented with the EU’s Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to European unification.
Having unexpectedly decided to accept the award, Francis delivered a typically hard-hitting message to listeners that also included the heads of the EU’s main institutions, the Council, the Commission, the Parliament and its central bank.
“What has happened to you, the Europe of humanism, the champion of human rights, democracy and freedom?” he asked. “What has happened to you, Europe, the home of poets, philosophers, artists, musicians, and men and women of letters?”
Francis has made the cause of migrants trying to reach Europe one of the defining themes of his papacy.
He has regularly railed against the “indifference” of western societies to their plight and last month he made a high-profile visit to Lesbos, the Greek island on the frontline of the crisis, returning to the Vatican with three Syrian families seeking asylum from the civil war ravaging their homeland.