Pope Francis calls Europe an "elderly and haggard" grandmother Pope Francis likened Europe to a barren grandmother, calling the continent "elderly and haggard" during an address to members of the European parliament that had supposedly been meant to raise the spirits of a region mired in economic stagnation. The 77-year-old Argentine pontiff made the remarks during a visit to Strasbourg that was the first address to the parliament by the head of the Catholic church since St John Paul spoke there 26 years ago. Pope Francis told MEPs he wanted to convey a message of "hope and encouragement" to a continent brought low by sluggish growth and high unemployment. Yet he was particularly vivid in depicting its sense of decline. "We encounter a general impression of weariness and ageing, of a Europe that is now a grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant," the Pope said. "The great ideals which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions," he added. The Pope exhorted the lawmakers, who were elected in May, to build Europe "not around the economy, but around the sacred nature of the human person." In terms of specific issues, the Pope emphasised immigration. He urged MEPs to do more to prevent the watery deaths of thousands of migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea. "We cannot allow the Mediterranean Sea to become a vast cemetery," said the Pope, who last year visited the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, a landing zone for migrants that has become a focal point of Europe's immigration debate. The EU has struggled to cope with a rising tide of illegal immigration, with member states bickering about who should bear the cost and burden of rescue missions and resettling migrants. The EU's border patrol agency, known as Frontex, recently launched a new operation called Triton to help monitor the seas off the coast of southern Italy. But Triton is less ambitious than an Italian Navy operation known as "Mare Nostrum" which ventured close to Libyan territorial waters to rescue migrants but is now winding down. The Pope's short visit to Strasbourg comes on the eve of a three-day visit to Turkey this weekend, which is expected to focus on forging unity with the Orthodox church and protecting Christians fleeing conflict-ridden regions of Syria. As well as his speech at the parliament, Pope Francis's Strasbourg visit also included a meeting with a 97-year-old German woman who had hosted him in 1985 when he was studying theology at the Goethe Institut in Boppard, in the nearby Rhineland. His reception was overwhelmingly positive in the parliament, which has seen a big increase in populist, eurosceptic members voted in amid discontent with Europe's economic slide. "Your message of peace and dialogue, sincerity and responsibility for each other, of solidarity and togetherness make it very clear that together we need to find common solutions to our challenges," said Martin Schulz, the German socialist and president of the body. Manfred Weber, a German Christian Democrat who is chairman of the centre-right European People's Party, called the Pope's speech a "timely wake-up call" to Europeans. "We must resist egoistic approaches and take Europe to a new beginning, based not only on money and the economy but first and foremost on ideas and values," he added.