NOW THAT’S COLD

Pope Francis Warns Emigration and Low Birth Rates Bringing ‘Ice Curtain’ to Europe

Speaking in Bulgaria on Sunday, the pontiff warned that wealth inequality in Europe would lead to rich-poor divide.

Pope Francis on Sunday warned that emigration, low birth rates and the rich-poor divide pose real threats against the European continent and were likely to cause a new “ice curtain,” using a turn of phrase on Winston Churchill’s famous line referring to the “iron curtain” that divided Europe after World War II. The pope is on a three-day visit to Bulgaria and Macedonia to try to mend divisions between the Orthodox Christian churches in the region, which have remained divided after a split in 1054, according to Reuters. “Bulgaria, like so many other countries of Europe must deal with what can only be called a new winter,” Francis said. “The demographic winter that has descended like an ice curtain on a large part of Europe, the consequence of a diminished confidence in the future.”