It is “fair and responsible” to say that one cannot open the borders wide “unreasonably”, but the fundamental question is “why are there so many migrants now?”. This is Pope Francis’ reply to the question about the reception of migrants in Europe put to him by Guillaume Goubert, director of the French daily La Croix, and Sébastien Maillard, Vatican correspondent for La Croix in Rome. “The initial problems – the Pope explained – are the wars in the Middle East and in Africa as well as the underdevelopment of the African continent, which causes hunger. If there are wars, it is because there exist arms manufacturers – which can be justified for defensive purposes – and above all arms traffickers. If there is so much unemployment, it is because of a lack of investment capable of providing employment, of which Africa has such a great need”. The Pope called into question the world economic system recalling that more than 80% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of about 16% of the world’s population. And pointed out: “A completely free market does not work”. Going back to the issue of migrants, the Pontiff went on to say: “The worst form of welcome is to ‘ghettoize’ them. On the contrary, it is necessary to integrate them. In Brussels, the terrorists were Belgians, children of migrants, but they grew up in a ghetto”, whilst “in London, the new mayor took his oath of office in a cathedral and will undoubtedly meet the queen. This illustrates the need for Europe to rediscover its capacity to integrate”. “This integration – he underlined – is all the more necessary today since, as a result of a selfish search for well-being, Europe is experiencing the serious problem of a declining birth rate”.