EU risks dying, needs new vigour and passion, says Pope Francis

Pope Francis told Europe’s leaders on Friday (March 24) the continent faced a “vacuum of values” as they marked the EU’s 60th birthday, condemning anti-immigrant populism and extremism that he said posed a mortal threat to the bloc.
Prime ministers and presidents from 27 EU member states have descended on Italy to mark the 1957 founding Treaty of Rome, receiving a papal blessing on the eve of the anniversary.
However, celebrations have been tempered by a string of crises, including prolonged economic turmoil, an influx of migrants and Britain’s decision to leave the bloc, that have raised fears for the future of the union.

The Argentinian-born pontiff told the leaders they needed to promote Europe’s “patrimony of ideals and spiritual values” with greater passion and vigour, mentioning the attack in London this week by a British-born convert to Islam, who killed four people.

Francis urged the continent not to close in on itself and resurrect walls — a message aimed as much at U.S. President Donald Trump as at EU leaders struggling to deal with mass immigration. He also decried a worrying “lapse of memory” where people see today’s immigrants fleeing war and hunger as a threat to a comfortable lifestyle, forgetting modern Europe sprang from the ashes of World War Two and mass migration.