Rome [Italy], August 3: In the face of wars and conflicts and the suffering and migration they cause, Pope Francis criticized Europe on Wednesday for its inadequate efforts to solve the world's problems.
"Where are you heading if you don't propose to the world a course of peace, creative ways to stop the war in Ukraine and the many conflicts that stain the world with blood?" the pontiff said in a lunchtime speech to representatives of the Portuguese government and civil society at the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon.
In his first major public speech during his current visit to Portugal, the 86-year-old denounced the absence of a bold peace plan and said more money was being invested in weapons than in the future of children.
Europe also had to face up to its problems, the pontiff warned. He criticized the handling of migrants at the continent's external borders and in the Mediterranean, the decline in birth rates as well as discussions on euthanasia.
"Global injustices, wars, climate and migration crises are advancing faster than the ability and often the will to face these challenges together", Francis said. Instead, the pope dreams of a "Europe at the heart of the West" that uses its ingenuity to extinguish hotbeds of war and ignite lights of hope. The continent could be a driver for the "global opening" needed in the world. The world needs Europe - "the real Europe" - as a bridge builder and peacemaker.
The head of the Catholic Church is in Portugal for five days during the Catholic Church's World Youth Day (WYD) 2023.
After his arrival in Lisbon, Francis was welcomed by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at his residence, Belem Palace, for an official welcoming ceremony.
In his entry in the Portuguese Book of Honour, Francis said: "As a pilgrim of hope in Portugal, I pray and hope that this country with its young heart will continue to reach out to the horizons of fraternity."
Source: Qatar Tribune
