Pope Francis on Saturday warned about a “retreating of democracy” in Europe and the world in his first speech in Athens as he started his three-day visit to Greece.

“Democracy was born here. Today, there is a retreating of democracy, not only in the Old Continent. Everyone’s participation is fundamental not only to achieving goals but because it reveals who we are,” the Pontiff told Greek and Vatican officials, as well as Catholic bishops who attended the welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Mansion.

“Without Athens and without Greece, Europe and the world would not be what they are today,” he added, while warning against the “easy answers of populism.”

He then talked about migration, noting that Greece’s diffulties have exacerbated following the economic crisis. “Yet Europe continues to hesitate, and the EU has often fallen prey to forms of nationalistic self-interest, rather than being an engine of solidarity, and has appeared at times blocked and uncoordinated. The issue of migration has led to breaches between South and North,” he said and called for a “global, communitarian vision” regarding migration.

He also expressed hope that commitments assumed in the fight against climate change will be more fully shared and seriously implemented.

In his address, the Pope also welcomed the Prespes Accord signed between Greece and North Macedonia in 2018, which ended a decades-long dispute over the latter’s name.

President Katerina Sakellaropoulou welcomed Pope Francis in Athens, extolling his work and his “deep social sensitivity.” She also thanked him for expressing his support on the change of status of Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque by the Turkish government.

His arrival in Athens marks the second leg of the Pontiff’s visit to the Mediterranean that aims to draw attention to the plight of migrants and refugees.

His schedule includes a large Mass on Sunday evening at the Athens Concert Hall.

Pope Francis with meetings in Athens aimed at bolstering recently-mended ties between the Vatican and Orthodox churches.

Francis’ five-day visit to predominantly Orthodox Cyprus and Greece is largely focused on the plight of migrants as Europe hardens its border control policies.

Talks on Saturday will turn to an emerging alliance between the eastern and western branches of Christianity to face major global problems including climate change.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II became the first Catholic leader to visit Greece in more than 1,200 years. Francis has accelerated inter-faith initiatives, as the two churches attempt to shift from centuries of competition and mistrust toward collaboration.

In Athens, Francis will meet the leader of Greece’s Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, as well as with the country’s political leadership, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

At his meeting with the Orthodox church leadership in Cyprus Friday, Francis expressed regret over the “centuries of division” between the two churches.

Francis invited Orthodox Christian and other religious leaders to the Vatican in October to sign a climate declaration. Supporters of greater Vatican-Orthodox cooperation argue that it could assist beleaguered Christian communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Orthodox Churches are also seeking alliances as they are involved in a deepening dispute over the independence of the Ukrainian church which was historically governed by the Russian Orthodox Church.

“I think the presence of the pope in Greece and Cyprus signals a return to the normal relationship that we should have … so that we can move toward what is most important of all: the unity of the Christian world,” Ioannis Panagiotopoulos, an associate professor of divinity and church history at Athens University, told The Associated Press.

“So this trip is very significant and it means we can have a real discussion about the major issues, like migration.”

Francis will meet with members of Greece’s small Catholic community and on Sunday will return to the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, where he visited five years ago to meet with migrants at a detention camp there. He brought a dozen home with him aboard the papal plane.

Up to 4,000 police officers will be on duty in Athens for the pope’s visit, which ends Monday.