Alessandro Gisotti, director of the Holy See Press Office, called for greater European solidarity as Europe Day approaches. “To recall the words of Joseph Ratzinger, they were ‘objective and realistic politicians’ for whom ‘politics was not pure pragmatism, since it was related to morality,’” Gisotti said. “To return to the roots and to the founding values of Europe is precisely what Pope Francis—the first non-European Pope in centuries—has constantly brought to the attention of European leaders and peoples.”