EU news: Pope Francis sent a stark warning about the future of the EU (Image: EPA )
Pope Francis called for the revival of the ideals of its founders on Sunday, saying ideologies and fear-mongering politicians were threatening its very existence as a bloc. His strong warning came as he travelled on a plane while returning from a three-day trip to Romania, one of the more recent EU members, were his first since European elections last month.
The leader of the Catholic Church, who was quizzed about the elections, Italian far-right leader Matteo Salvini and other European topics, urged believers to pray for European unity and non-believers to hope for it "from the bottom of your hearts".
The far-right and nationalists in Italy, Britain, France and Poland came out on top in their national votes, shaking up politics at home but failing to dramatically alter the balance of pro-European power in EU assembly.
He said: "If Europe does not look carefully to future challenges, Europe will dry up. Europe is ceasing to be 'Mother Europe' and is becoming 'Grandmother Europe'. It has aged. It has lost the goal of working together.
"Someone could ask under their breath 'Is this perhaps the end of a 70-year adventure?'"
