The news of the pope’s interest came the day after Greece began expelling migrants back to Turkey under a deal agreed between the European Union and Ankara that aims to mitigate the bloc’s worst migration crisis since the second world war.
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The Greek Orthodox Church said it had approved the papal visit to Lesbos after Francis expressed a desire to “shed light on the major humanitarian problem” of the migrant influx.
There was a lull in deportations of refugees from Greek islands to Turkey on Tuesday, amid Greek denials that some migrants had gone missing.
Serbian police say they have arrested six suspected people-smugglers after finding 34 migrants – including 15 minors – hidden in a truck which allegedly had illegally crossed the border from Bulgaria.
Pope Francis plans to visit the Greek island of Lesbos in mid-April to highlight the dramatic plight of thousands of refugees there.
STR/AFP/Getty Images Pope Francis performs the foot-washing ritual at the Castelnuovo di Porto refugees center near Rome on March 24.
Speaking to the Guardian, Vincent Cochetel, director of UNHCR’s European arm, said: “For four days after the 20th [March], the Greek police did not register any intention to seek asylum as they were not prepared [or] equipped for this, so we started providing forms to people who had declared their intention to seek asylum”.
Under the terms of the EU-Turkey agreement, which was passed into Greek law on Friday, local authorities have to process applications swiftly and can limit the appeals against rejections to just two weeks.
Following the Nazli Jale, a smaller, white vessel docked at the port, also from the Greek island of Lesbos. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country.
“The agreement will see the European Union pay an additional $3 billion to Turkey for hosting refugees”, USA Today adds. Yesterday, a group of 31 Syrian refugees arrived to the Netherlands from Turkey as the first group of refugees destined for this country.Kırklareli, bordering Bulgaria, is at the forefront of the resettlement of refugees from Europe to their home countries. They were among thousands of people who have arrived since March 20 and who are being held until their asylum requests are processed.
The idea is to discourage Syrians from making their way to Europe via the unsafe Aegean crossing.
Greek authorities have warned the operation is threatened by a shortage of personnel.
The Church of Greece said Tuesday that visit of the leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches would send a “very strong signal” about the need to help refugees and protect Christians “who are cruelly suffering” in the Middle East.
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This, along with a series of border closures further up the migrant route, has reduced the number of new arrivals in northern Europe – the main destination for the more than million people who arrived in Europe previous year.
