Encomium
The Catholic church’s leader, Pope Francis has slammed the European Union (EU) of being aged, tired and lacking ideas in the first papal address to the European parliament in 26 years.
The Argentine pontiff (77) delivered a sombre and thoughtful message to the 751 MEPs (Members of European Parliament) gathered in Strasbourg (on France’s border with Germany) on Tuesday (November 25), berating Europe for its treatment of immigrants and the largely unemployed youths.
He maintained that the rest of the world viewed Europe with “aloofness, mistrust and suspicion”. Continuing, he added: “We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast graveyard,” in reference to the thousands of migrants who drown every year as they seek to reach southern Europe from north Africa and the Middle East.
