ROME — Pope Francis, receiving a prize for service toward European unification on Friday, urged leaders to remember the ideals of the European Union’s founders, calling for an “update” of the idea of Europe at a time of mass migration, economic sluggishness and fears about terrorism.

The past can serve as an inspiration “to confront with courage the complex multipolar framework of our own day, and to take up with determination the challenge of ‘updating’ the idea of Europe,” the pope told European leaders in the Sala Regia at the Vatican, where he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize, named for the ninth-century king of the Franks who became Holy Roman Emperor.

“A Europe capable of giving birth to a new humanism based on three capacities: the capacity to integrate, the capacity for dialogue and the capacity to generate,” he said.

Francis was selected as this year’s recipient for reiterating values central to Europe: solidarity, compassion, tolerance and respect for others, as well as for his message of peace and understanding. “You are the pope of hope for all of us,” Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said at Friday’s ceremony.