Pope addresses European Parliament

Pope Francis: Address to the Council of Europe

–o–o–o–o–o–

Pope Francis on Tuesday called on Europe’s leaders to work diligently and continuously for creative solutions to divisions and conflict for a peaceful continent.  In a wide-ranging speech to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Pope Francis observed that “peace continues all too often to be violated” in many parts of the world where conflicts “continue to fester.” Tensions also continue to exist on the European continent, the Pope noted, which “yearns for peace but which so easily falls back into the temptations of the past.”

Welcoming Pope Francis, President Schulz pointed out that Pope Francis’s words have tremendous significance, not only because he is a religious leader, but because they speak to all of us, of themes that concern all of us: “they are universal – he said – and provide a guide at a time of lack of leadership, reminding us we have a common task and that we are stronger united than taken separately”. And in the two discourses in which the most recurrent words and concepts were “democracy”, “human rights” and “rule of law”, Pope Francis also spoke of the Church as being – in Pope Paul VI’s words  – an expert in humanity; he spoke of the legacy of Christianity in the social and cultural formation of the continent and of the contribution it desires to offer today and in the future; he reminded members of the Council of Europe that European bishops have an essential contribution to make. 

–o–o–o–o–o–