The Pope: "Where are you sailing Europe if you do not offer creative ways to end the war in Ukraine?

Pope Francis dedicated his first speech on World Youth Day (WYD), which is held in Lisbon, to reproaching Europe for not offering "creative" solutions or "peace processes" to "put an end to the war of Ukraine" and other conflicts in the world.

"We are navigating in critical, stormy circumstances, and we perceive the lack of courageous paths towards peace. Looking at Europe with sincere affection in the spirit of dialogue that characterizes us, it would be spontaneous for us to ask: where are you navigating if you do not offer peace processes? , creative ways to end the war in Ukraine and so many conflicts that bloody the world?, asked the Pontiff.

This was stated in his speech during a meeting with Portuguese authorities, with civil society and the diplomatic corps at the Belém Cultural Center, on the first day of his visit to Lisbon.

In this sense, the Pope has assured that he dreams of a Europe, the heart of the West, "that uses its ingenuity to turn off the lights of war and turn on lights of hope", that knows how to "rediscover its youthful soul, dreaming of the greatness of the together and going beyond immediate needs", with a Europe "that includes the peoples and their people with their own culture, without pursuing ideological theories and colonizations".

On the other hand, he has criticized the "sophisticated laws" that have been approved in Europe such as the euthanasia law and the lack of reception for migrants. "Where are Europe and the West sailing with the discarding of the elderly, the barbed wire walls, the tragedies at sea and the empty cradles?" the Pontiff also questioned.

In a speech delivered in Italian that revolved around references to the ocean, Francis lamented that in a developed world, "today, paradoxically, the defense of human life has become a priority" which, as he warned, has been "endangered by utilitarian drifts that discard it".

"I am thinking of so many unborn children and the elderly abandoned to their fate, of the difficulty in welcoming, promoting and integrating those who come from far away and knock on doors, of the loneliness of many families struggling to raise their children", has added.

Likewise, he has criticized some "sophisticated laws" approved in Europe and, specifically, he has referred to the euthanasia law which, in his opinion, offers "the wrong remedy as easy access to death".

"Where are Europe and the West going if, faced with the pain of living, they offer superficial and wrong remedies such as easy access to death, a convenience solution that seems sweet but is more bitter than the waters of the sea? And I think of so many sophisticated laws about it," he said.

In addition, he referred to the WYD host city, Lisbon, which "embraces different peoples and cultures" and which these days "becomes more universal". "In a sense, it becomes the capital of the world," he stressed.

Lisbon, as the Pontiff has pointed out, as a "city of the ocean", recalls the importance of the whole, "of thinking of borders as areas of contact, not as borders that separate" and has affirmed that it can "suggest a change of pace" in in the midst of a "divided" world when it comes to dealing with global problems.

"We know that today the big questions are global, but we often experience inefficiency in answering them precisely because faced with common problems the world is divided, or at least not cohesive enough, unable to face together what puts everyone in crisis. It seems that the planetary injustices, wars, climate and migratory crises run faster than the ability, and often the will, to face these challenges together," he explained.

In the opinion of Pope Francis, "the world needs the true Europe", its "role of bridge and peacemaker in its eastern part, in the Mediterranean, in Africa and in the Middle East".

In this way, he believes that Europe will be able to bring to the international scene its "specific originality", which emerged in the last century when, from the crucible of world conflicts, "it let the spark of reconciliation sprout, making the dream of building the tomorrow with yesterday's enemy, to initiate dialogue paths, paths of inclusion, developing a peace diplomacy that extinguishes conflicts and alleviates tensions, capable of capturing the slightest signs of détente and reading between the most crooked lines".

Francisco also took advantage of his speech to denounce that in many places, "more money is invested in weapons than in the future of the children", some "sophisticated" weapons that, as he has warned, "do not represent investments in the future, but impoverishment of the true human capital, that of education, health and the welfare state.

THE OCEAN, PLASTIC LANDFILL

On the other hand, Francis has warned of the deterioration of the environment, a "very serious global problem" since "the oceans are overheating and their depths bring to light the ugliness with which we have contaminated our common home." "We are turning reserves of life into plastic landfills", lamented the Pontiff in his speech, while he called for "careful care" of the planet to guarantee a healthy future for young people.

The Pope has insisted that "the future lies with the young" but has recognized that there are "many factors that discourage them, such as the lack of work, the hectic pace in which they are immersed, the increase in the cost of living, the difficulty to find housing and, what is more worrisome, the fear of starting families and bringing children into the world. "In Europe and, more generally, in the West, we are witnessing a downward phase of the demographic curve," he warned.

For the Pontiff, "good politics can do a lot" in this sense, since "it is not called to exercise power, but to give people hope." "She is called, today more than ever, to correct the economic imbalances of a market that produces wealth but does not distribute it; she is called to rediscover herself as a generator of life and care; to invest with clairvoyance in the future, in families and in children, to promote intergenerational alliances, where the past is not erased with a sponge blow", he asserted.

In any case, Bergoglio stressed that these days, Lisbon "gives reason for hope" because it has been flooded by an "ocean of young people" to participate in WYD who "are not in the streets shouting with rage, but sharing hope of the Gospel, the hope of life".

"And if today there is a climate of protest and dissatisfaction in many parts, fertile ground for populism and conspiracy theories, World Youth Day is an opportunity to build together," the Pope proposed.

For his part, the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has assured that the country receives Francisco "with open arms". According to him, the country welcomes the testimony of the Pontiff on the dignity of people, their relationship with nature, on peace, fraternity, the fight against hunger, misery, oppression, abuse, xenophobia and the intolerance. "Portugal is following his testimony with great encouragement," he stressed.