Refugees on the overwhelmed island fell to their knees and wept at his presence.
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(Vatican Radio) “To the refugees and to the Greek people, I brought the solidarity of the Church”.
“It’s a drop of water in the sea”. Pope Francis implored Europe on Saturday to respond to the migrant crisis on its shores “in a way that is worthy of our common humanity”, during an emotional and provocative trip to Greece.
The migrants welcomed them with slogans and banners asking to meet them in person. He also told them not to lose hope adding, “the greatest gift we can offer one another is love: a merciful look, a readiness to listen and understand a word of encouragement, a prayer”.
The families were treated to a lively welcome Saturday night, with drummers thumping, a crowd applauding and the three mothers receiving a single red rose. They were chosen because they had their documents in order, not to make a political point to Europe about the need to better integrate Muslims, the Pope said. “I hope this gesture has an effect on refugee policy”. He says among the 300 refugees he greeted Saturday on Lesbos was a Syrian widower with two children.
Ramy, a 51-year-old teacher from the eastern Islamic State-occupied city of Deir Ezzor, fled Syria with his wife Suhila and three children – sons Rashid, 18 and Abdelmajid, 16, and seven-year-old daughter Al Quds – after their home was destroyed in the war. The Vatican initially had said there would be no meeting between Sanders and the Pope this weekend, and some officials had accused him of wrangling an invitation to the conference, and of pandering to the Catholic vote. He said two Christian families had been on the original list, but they didn’t have their documents in order. Since the deal took effect last month, the number of migrants arriving in Lesbos has dropped sharply – even as the numbers arriving in Italy are steadily rising.
“It’s a small gesture”, he said.
Francis seemed particularly shaken by the trauma the children he met at the detention centre suffered as a result of their experiences. “If the sun is able to cry, so can we”. “A tear would do us good”.
After fleeing to Turkey, Hasan and his family joined the migrant trail to Europe, piling into a rubber dinghy that set out from the Turkish coast for Greece.
“God will repay this generosity”, he promised.
Human rights groups have denounced the EU-Turkey deportation deal as an abdication of Europe’s obligation to grant protection to asylum-seekers.
The three families were already in camps in Lesbos before the European Union and Turkey agreed to detain any migrants arriving on Greek islands and return them to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece, according to a statement from the Director of the Holy See Press Office.
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Turkey, which borders Syria and hosts roughly 2.7 million Syrian refugees, has tightened border restrictions in the past year.
