World Bulletin / News Desk

Pope Francis will meet with the leaders of all EU nations at the Vatican on March 24 ahead of the bloc's special summit in Rome, Vatican sources said Thursday.

The pope has already received EU leaders at the Vatican in May 2016 when he was presented with the bloc's Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to European unification. The pontiff will meet the leaders in the afternoon, the sources said.

In a speech at that ceremony he called on them to "tear down the walls" and build a fairer society.

Invoking the memory of the EU founding fathers' pursuit of integration in the aftermath of World War II, the pontiff said they inspired because they had "dared to change radically the models" that had led to war.

The pope also made a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in November 2014.