As he arrived in the Balkan nation for a two-day visit, Francis “respectfully suggested” that Bulgarians recognise that migrants are fleeing war, conflict or dire poverty “to find new opportunities in life or simply a safe refuge”.
“To all Bulgarians, who are familiar with the drama of emigration, I respectfully suggest that you not close your eyes, your hearts or your hands, in accordance with your best tradition, to those who knock at your door,” he told government officials at the presidential palace in Sofia, the capital.
Bulgaria’s centre-right, pro-Brussels coalition government includes three nationalist, anti-migrant parties.
The government has called for the European Union to close borders to migrants and has sealed off its own border to Turkey with a barbed-wire fence.
But the country is also losing its own population at a faster clip than any other nation, according to the UN.
Its current population of seven million is expected to dwindle to 5.4 million by 2050 and to 3.9 million by the end of the century.
The Argentine pope has made the plight of migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy, urging governments to build bridges, not walls, and to do what they can to welcome and integrate refugees.
His visit falls just three weeks before European Parliament elections across the EU’s 28 nations in which nationalist, anti-migrant parties are expected to make…
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