“EUROPE, RETURN TO JESUS!”
by FrancisDear brother bishops,
I greet all of you with affection on the occasion of the plenary assembly of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe. And I thank Cardinal Peter Erdõ for the words with which he introduced this meeting. I will have this address distributed to you and permit myself to say a few things that are in my heart and that the words of His Eminence have brought to the surface.
What is happening today in Europe? What is going on in the heart of our mother Europe? Is she still our mother Europe, or grandma Europe? Is she still fertile? Has she fallen into sterility? Is she unable to give new life? (It takes some getting used to the Holy Father's style but I have to admit, "grandma Europe" is pretty good! He calls out here its disastrous birth-rate not only literally but perhaps he also means, spiritually.) For one thing, this Europe has committed a few sins. We must say this with love: it has not wanted to recognize one of its roots. And because of this it feels and does not feel Christian. Or it feels Christian somewhat in secret, but doesn't want to recognize it, this European root. (How can Europe be anything but Christian and specifically, Catholic! Europe is dying because of itself. It must reconvert itself and its immigrants or it's culture, the greatest of all cultures, will be dead in a century or less)
The Europe of today has been invaded. It may be the second invasion of the barbarians, (who does he think that these "barbarians" are? or do we know ... have the events of the last few months opened his eyes? Let us hope.) I don't know. First it opened its doors in order to profit from labor. But now it feels this “invasion” of people who are coming to look for work, who are fleeing from their homeland in search of freedom and a better life. (Yes! Fat, lazy, rich and spoilt Europeans would not do the work and they imported immigrants to do it. The Germans from Turkey, the French from their former African colonies and these were Moslems who have more babies. Did they think it would not happen??)
Europe is wounded. I'll go back to that image that says so much to me, and I say that the Church today seems to me like a field hospital because there are so many wounded in the Church. But Europe is wounded too. Wounded by all the trials it has undergone. (The wars of history but particularly those of the 20th. century and communism all with their roots in the Masonic French Revolution which spread to Spain and Portugal early in the 20th century and Protestantism have unleashed upon Catholic Europe, hell on earth -- it is now paying for its sins and crimes against humanity.) It has gone from the time of prosperity, of great well-being, to a worrying crisis in which young people too are discarded. In the newspapers the other day it said that here in Italy youth unemployment is up to 43 percent, I think. In Spain it’s 50 percent. And the Spanish bishops have told me that in Andalusia it is almost at 60 percent. (Because they imported Muslim immigrants to do the work and now their own children have no future.)
Cardinal Erdõ talked about the discarding of children and the elderly. And it's true. But now there is also the discarding of a whole generation of young people. I don't know if it is only in Europe, or in Europe and in the developed countries, that there is talk of 75 million from the age of twenty-five and down. But it's a whole generation. As European bishops, what are we doing for the young people? (The bishops of Europe have on the most part for half a century preached a Gospel not of Christ but of another god; a god of false social justice. They have reaping what they have sown and souls have been and continue to be lost, the Holy Father understands this.) Giving them something to eat? Yes, that's the first thing. But that doesn't give dignity to a young person, to anyone. Dignity comes from work. And there is the danger that the children of mother, today practically grandma Europe, are losing their dignity because they do not have jobs and cannot bring bread home. Europe has discarded its children. (ABORTION!) A bit triumphantly. I remember that when I was studying in one country the clinics that did abortions then prepared everything to send it to cosmetic factories. Makeup made with the blood of innocents. And this was something to brag about, because it was progressive: the rights of the woman, the woman has the right over her body. (Yes, her right to kill her baby and her right to have a pretty face from its fetal tissue -- where were/are the bishops in this, particularly those of Germany who continue with their pornographic publishing empire. Pornography leads to abortion)
I don't know about here in Italy, I don't want to say because I'm not sure, but what will happen when the state is unable to pay the pensions, because there aren't enough young people working according to the law, (he understands the economic impact of a low-birth rate.) because there is that black market for labor that they do, not always but… And the elderly - I've said this about Latin America, about my country, but I believe it's a universal problem or of many countries or some other continents - the elderly are discarded with stealth euthanasia. The social services cover medical treatment up to a certain point, and then you're on your own! (Barack Hussein Obama's death panels?)
A Europe weary with disorientation. And I don't want to be a pessimist, but let's tell the truth: after food, clothing, and medicine, what are the most important expenditures? Cosmetics, and I don't know how to say this in Italian, but the “mascotas,” the little animals. They don't have children, but their affection goes to the little cat, to the little dog. And this is the second expenditure after the three main ones. The third is the whole industry to promote sexual pleasure. So it’s food, medicine, clothing, cosmetics, little animals, and the life of pleasure. Our young people feel this, they see this, they live this.
I liked very much what His Eminence said, because this is truly the drama of Europe today. But it's not the end. I believe that Europe has many resources for going forward. It's like a sickness that Europe has today. A wound. And the greatest resource is the person of Jesus. Europe, return to Jesus!Return to that Jesus whom you have said was not in your roots! And this is the work of the pastors: to preach Jesus in the midst of these wounds. I have spoken of only a few, but there are tremendous wounds. To preach Jesus. And I ask you this: don't be ashamed to proclaim Jesus Christ risen who has redeemed us all. And for us too that the Lord may not rebuke us, as today in the Gospel of Luke he rebuked these two cities.
The Lord wants to save us. I believe this. This is our mission: to proclaim Jesus Christ, without shame. And he is ready to open the doors of his heart, because he manifests his omnipotence above all in mercy and forgiveness. Let's go forward with preaching. Let's not be ashamed. So many ways of preaching, but to mama Europe - or grandma Europe, or wounded Europe - only Jesus Christ can speak a word of salvation today. Only he can open a door of escape.
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This is what we need to hear from Pope Francis. This is what the European Parliament needs to hear.
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