Strasbourg, France: On a four-hour visit to Strasbourg, the shortest in papal history, the 77-year-old Argentine pontiff said he wanted to deliver a message of "hope and encouragement" to a continent that has been battered by sluggish growth and high unemployment.
But he exhorted the lawmakers, who were elected in May of this year, to build Europe "not around the economy, but around the sacred nature of the human person".
Pope Francis's speech marked the first time in 26 years that the leader of the Catholic church has spoken to the European parliament, since John Paul II's visit in 1988.
He chose some of his strongest words to demand backing from European lawmakers for efforts to rescue migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea to try to reach European shores from north Africa.
"We cannot allow the Mediterranean Sea to become a vast cemetery," said the Pope, who last year visited the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, which is on the front line of the immigration debate.
Absence of mutual support
"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 labour and continuing social tensions," he said.
The European Union'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 its mission is not as ambitious or costly as an Italian Navy operation known as "Mare Nostrum" which ventured close to Libyan territorial waters to rescue migrants but is now winding down.
Pope Francis, the first non-European pope in more than a millennium, spent a big section of his speech reflecting on the economic troubles afflicting the continent, which he described as tired and old, like a "grandmother" who is no longer "fertile and lively".
"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.
Keeping democracy alive
Pope Francis told the lawmakers that they bear "the responsibility of keeping democracy alive" and told them not to succumb to "globalising trends that dilute reality" and "multinational interests" serving "unseen powers".
His short visit to Strasbourg comes on the eve of this weekend's three-day visit to Turkey, which is expected to focus on forging unity with the Orthodox church and protecting Christians fleeing conflict-ridden regions of Syria.
As well as visiting the European Parliament, Pope Francis was also expected to stop by the Council of Europe to discuss human rights. Pope Francis's visit also included a meeting with a 97-year-old German lady who had hosted him in 1985 when he was studying theology at the Goethe Institut in Boppard, in the nearby Rhineland.
His speech was shown on a big screen in Strasbourg's main cathedral, but some French Catholics were disappointed that he did not celebrate a mass there on his trip.
His reception in the European Parliament was overwhelmingly positive. "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.
Wakeup call
Manfred Weber, a German Christian Democrat who is chairman of the European People's Party, said the speech was 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.
