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Pope Francis delivered damning message to European leaders on Tuesday when he addressed European Parliament in Strasbourg. He denounced what he saw as Europe's 'throwaway culture' where elderly, terminally ill and unborn children are ignored. He said technology and economics were more important to politicians than those suffering. He told his audience: "Men and women risk being reduced to mere cogs in machine that treats them as items of consumption to be exploited, with result that whenever human life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded." He added: "It is inevitable consequence of throwaway culture, and uncontrolled consumerism".

The Pope was very critical of Europe's politicians and systems. He warned that Europe's once dynamic, caring and artistic cultures were being eroded by red-tape, saying: " great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions." He said bureaucracy was "perceived as insensitive to individual peoples, if not downright harmful". Pope said Europe risked losing its sense of community, saying: "One of most common diseases in Europe today is loneliness typical of those who have no connection with others. This is especially true of elderly, who are often abandoned to their fate, and also in young."