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Pope Francis praised the EU's work to improve human rights

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Pope Francis

Pope Francis has warned that the world sees Europe as "somewhat elderly and haggard" during a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The Pope said the continent felt "less and less a protagonist", in a world that regarded it with mistrust.

He also called for a "united response" to the help the boatloads of migrants arriving in Europe.

Pope Francis's whistle-stop visit to Strasbourg disgruntled some, who accused him of neglecting Europe.

Many of Strasbourg's Catholics were upset that the Pope would not meet them or visit the city's cathedral.

The four-hour visit - the shortest made by any Pope abroad - was his second European trip since his election last year. He travelled to Albania in September.

'Vast cemetery'

Addressing the Parliament on Tuesday, the Pope called for action following the deaths of thousands of migrants who have drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

"We cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery," he said.

Pope Francis was greeted by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (right)

"The absence of mutual support within the European Union runs the risk of encouraging... solutions which fail to take into account the human dignity of immigrants, and thus contribute to slave labour and continuing social tensions."

The treatment of migrants was a subject he also touched on during a second speech at the Council of Europe, Europe's main human rights body.

His remarks came as the Greek authorities said they were trying to rescue a cargo ship, believed to be carrying some 500 migrants, that was adrift off the eastern Mediterranean island of Crete.

Grandmother

The Pope also used his visit to Strasbourg to call for the creation of jobs and better conditions for workers.

At the European Parliament, he spoke of a need to reinvigorate Europe, describing the continent as a "grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant" and saying it risked "slowly losing its own soul".

Pope Francis was transported around Strasbourg in an ordinary family car rather than his Popemobile

"The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions," he said.

Pope Francis left his Popemobile behind on Tuesday, instead opting for a French-made Peugeot 407 family car.

Residents in Strasbourg were told they could watch both the pontiff's speeches on a giant screen installed inside the cathedral, which is celebrating its millennial anniversary.

One worshipper told Reuters: "I think there is disappointment but I think he also has reasons for making his decision.

Strasbourg's Catholics did not get to meet the Pope

"He knows what he is doing but we would have liked him to be here."

It was the second time a Pope has visited Strasbourg.

In 1988 Pope John Paul II visited the city and addressed the European Parliament, where he was heckled by Northern Irish MEP the Rev Ian Paisley.

During his speech the late Pope called Europe "a beacon of civilisation".

The bodies have now been removed

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Ebola outbreak

• Search for cure
• Into Ebola heartland
• Orphans in pictures
• The basics

Burial workers in the Sierra Leonean city of Kenema have dumped bodies in public in protest at non-payment of allowances for handling Ebola victims.

The workers, who went on strike over the issue, left 15 bodies abandoned at the city's main hospital.

One of the bodies was reportedly left by the hospital manager's office and two others by the hospital entrance.

The workers have now been sacked for treating the corpses in a "very, very inhumane" way, an official said.

Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by this year's Ebola outbreak, with more than 1,200 deaths.

Burial workers are especially at risk of becoming infected

Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and the biggest in the east, where the Ebola outbreak first emerged in the country.

The burial workers told a BBC reporter they had not been paid agreed extra risk allowances for October and November.

The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Freetown says the bodies have now been taken away but the workers had refused to end their strike.

Danger after death

A spokesman for the government's National Ebola Response Centre, Sidi Yahya Tunis, said the workers had been sacked not for striking, but for indiscipline by treating the corpses in a "very, very inhumane" manner.

He said there would be an investigation into why workers had not been paid, since both the government and World Bank had released money for high-risk pay to district health management teams.

"Somebody somewhere has to investigate where these monies have been going, who have been paid these monies... Action will definitely be taken against those who delayed their pay," Mr Tunis told the BBC.

The burial workers' industrial action came two weeks after health workers went on strike for similar reasons at a clinic near Bo - the only facility in southern Sierra Leone treating Ebola victims.

Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

People are infected when they have direct contact through broken skin, or the mouth and nose, with the blood, vomit, faeces or bodily fluids of someone with Ebola.

The virus can be present in urine and semen too.

Infection may also occur through direct contact with contaminated bedding, clothing and surfaces - but only through broken skin.

The virus is still dangerous and present in the body after death. Burial workers are at risk of infection and commonly wear protective clothing and take other precautions.

Health professionals say those who have died from Ebola should be buried promptly to lessen the risks of infection spreading.