Pope urges the EU to promote Human Rights

Pope Benedict XVI has said that Europeans would work actively for the EU when they saw and experienced personally that it promoted Human Rights.

Beginning a four-day visit to France - which currently holds the rotating EU presidency - he also told dignitaries his greatest concern was that young people should be encouraged to respect and help others.

Arriving at Orly Airport in Paris, Benedict XVI was welcomed warmly by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, his wife Carla and senior members of the French hierarchy. The two heads of state then took the salute of a guard of honour, provided by the infantry component of the Garde Républicaine.

At the Élysée Palace the Pope later met Nicolas Sarkozy privately, before addressing ministers of the French government and other dignitaries. He told them that Europeans would work actively for the EU when they saw and experienced personally that it promoted inalienable human rights to free education, to family life and to work as well as religious rights. This, he explained, would allow them to understand fully the greatness of the EU project.
He said his greatest concern was that young people should be soundly educated and encouraged to respect and help others if they are to develop serenely towards an age of responsibility. He also expressed concern for the surreptitious widening of the gap between rich and poor in the West and the state of the planet.

Later the Pontiff delivered a keynote address to hundreds of intellectuals, researchers and artists, before praying with thousands of people at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Tomorrow Pope Benedict will travel to Lourdes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the apparitions there.