Addressing the European Parliament for the first time, Pope Francis has alluded to a general impression of “ageing and weariness” in Europe and said a new spirit should be built, where humans are treated not as programmable objects.
“In many quarters, we encounter a general impression of
weariness and aging, of a Europe which is now a 'grandmother', no
longer fertile and vibrant. As a result, the great ideas which
once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to
be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its
institutions,” the Pope said.
The pontiff said there are many situations in which human beings
are treated “as objects whose conception, configuration and
utility can be programmed, and who can then be discarded when no
longer useful, due to weakness, illness or old age."
He warned, however, against misunderstanding the concept of human
rights and from its misuse, saying there is a "tendency to
claim ever broader individual rights these days."
"In fact, unless the rights of each individual are harmoniously
ordered to the greater good, those rights will end up being
considered limitless and consequently will become a source of
conflicts and violence," Pope Francis has warned.
Francis said Europe should create jobs, noting that technical and
economic questions are currently dominating political debate,
much "to the detriment of genuine concern for human
beings."
"Men and women risk being reduced to mere cogs in a machine that
treats them as items of consumption to be exploited, with the
result that – as is so tragically apparent – whenever a human
life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded
with few qualms, as in the case of the terminally ill, the
elderly who are abandoned and uncared for, and children who are
killed in the womb."
Speaking to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Argentine
pope said the challenge is to shape a Europe "which revolves
not around the economy, but around the sacredness of the human
person, around inalienable values."
Francis said among Europe's top priorities were "finding new
ways of joining market flexibility with the need for stability
and security on the part of workers," as well as
"favoring a suitable social context geared not to the
exploitation of persons, but to ensuring, precisely through
labor, their ability to create a family and educate their
children."
Speaking just several days after 600 migrants were rescued in the
Mediterranean between Sicily and North Africa, Pope Francis
couldn't help mentioning Europe's immigration crisis.
"There needs to be a united response to the question of
migration. We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast
cemetery," he said.
"The boats landing daily on the shores of Europe are filled with
men and women who need acceptance and assistance. The absence of
mutual support within the European Union runs the risk of
encouraging particularistic solutions to the problem, solutions
which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants,
and thus contribute to slave labor and continuing social
tensions," he added.