Pope says emigration, low birth rates have brought 'ice curtain' on Europe

Pope Francis urged European leaders on Sunday to address wealth inequality and low birth rates which he said had created an "ice curtain" between Europe's richer and poorer states and was fuelling emigration.

Francis made the comments during a speech at the presidential palace in Sofia during a two-day visit to Bulgaria, his first and the first by a Pope in 17 years.

Using a play on Winston Churchill's famous phrase about an "iron curtain" falling over a divided Europe after World War Two, Francis said new divisions were lacerating the face of the continent 30 years after the fall of communism.

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Bulgaria, which joined the European Union in 2007, remains its poorest member state. More than two million Bulgarians have left the country since the fall of communism for better jobs and living standards in western Europe, leaving a current population of about seven million.

Francis also met with leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He moves to North Macedonia on Tuesday.