by Patrick Hudson in The Tablet

Pope Leo said Europe’s “Judeo-Christian roots” are the only way to understand its identity, after criticising US policy on the continent.

At an audience in Rome with members of the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group of the European Parliament, the Pope praised “the rich ethical principles and patterns of thought that are the intellectual patrimony of Christian Europe”.

“These are essential for safeguarding the divinely bestowed rights and inherent worth of every human person, from conception to natural death,” he said. “They are likewise fundamental for responding to the challenges presented by poverty, social exclusion, economic deprivation, as well as by the ongoing climate crisis, violence and war.”

The previous evening, he had voiced concerns about the US peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine as he left Castel Gandolfo, warning that it excludes Europe from negotiations. He told reporters that “unfortunately, some parts of it that I have seen make a huge change to what was for many, many years a true alliance between Europe and the United States”.

Leo has previously insisted that peace negotiations must include contributions from European powers. Critics of the plan, which demands significant territorial and diplomatic concessions from Ukraine, warn that it accepts Russian demands and undermines Ukrainian and European security.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, had visited the Pope at Castel Gandolfo earlier on Tuesday as he toured European capitals to rally support after a series of unfriendly diplomatic interventions from the US.

Besides the peace plan, the White House published a 33-page “National Security Strategy” that said it was “a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilise European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war and re-establish strategic stability with Russia”.

It also claimed that Europe was undermined by “activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence”.

“We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilisational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation,” the document said.

In an interview with the Politico website broadcast on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said many European nations were “decaying” and “will not be viable countries any longer” due to immigration – which he blamed on “weak” leaders who had also failed to bring peace in Ukraine.

Trump also said he would be willing to meet Pope Leo. “I’m sure he’s a lovely man. His brother’s a lovely man,” he said, referring to the Pope’s elder brother Louis Prevost who has praised Trump and visited him at the White House in May.

During his remarks at Castel Gandolfo that evening, Pope Leo said that “remarks that are made about Europe, also in interviews recently, I think, are trying to break apart what I think needs to be a very important alliance [between Europe and the US] today and in the future”.

“I believe Europe’s role is very important, and the unity of European countries is truly significant, especially in this case,” he said.

“Trying to reach a peace agreement without including Europe in the discussions is not realistic. The war is in Europe, and I believe that Europe must be part of the security guarantees sought today and in the future.”

He continued: “Unfortunately, not everyone understands this, but I believe there is a great opportunity for the idea of Europe to come together and seek solutions collectively.”

In his address to the ECR parliamentarians on Wednesday, Leo said that “to hold high office within any society comes with the responsibility to advance the common good”, urging them “never to lose sight of the forgotten ones”.

He emphasised that “the mark of any civilised society is that differences are debated with courtesy and respect” because this “bears witness to our reverence for the God-given dignity of all men and women”. He cited the patron saint of politicians Thomas More as an “inspiration for those who seek to foster the wellbeing of society”.

Leo’s address emphasised that “protecting the religious legacy of this continent” was less a matter of defending rights and customs than “a recognition of fact”.

“To ensure that the voice of the Church, not least through her social doctrine, continues to be heard, is not about the restoration of a past epoch, but of guaranteeing that key resources for future cooperation and integration are not lost,” he said.

He cited Pope Benedict XVI’s address in Westminster Hall during his visit to the UK in 2010, identifying the need for dialogue between “the world of reason and the world of faith – the world of secular rationality and the world of religious belief”.