“We are all migrants”, he said as he threw a wreath into the sea.
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The Vatican said the pope’s trip is not a “direct” criticism of the scheme, but is a purely humanitarian visit.
Lesbos houses thousands who have fled Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries plagued by war and poverty in the past year.
Pope Francis visits the Moria refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos, Saturday April 16, 2016. This 13th overseas visit of the Francis pontificate will be one of the shortest, lasting less than five hours.
(Vatican Radio) “To the refugees and to the Greek people, I brought the solidarity of the Church”. But Austria and several Balkan nations shut their borders to refugees in early March, stranding more than 50,000 people in Greece.
Francis said: “He is Muslim, and he told me that he married a Christian girl”. However, since the controversial ruling was implemented, Lesbos has also seen hundreds of deportations as families from Turkey who wished to seek refuge were instead turned away.
The refugee families, which include six children, are to be taken in by the Vatican and will be initially cared for by the Rome-based lay community of Sant’Egidio.
The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made the plight of refugees, the poor and downtrodden the focus of his ministry as pope, denouncing the “globalization of indifference” that the world shows the less fortunate. While there are no photos of the two together, Sanders told reporters he was “incredibly appreciative” to have the honor of chatting exclusively with the religious leader, who he called a “beautiful man”.
In his remarks to the refugees, Francis said they should know that they are not alone and shouldn’t lose hope.
Journalists normally have no access to the facility on a hillside just outside Lesbos’s main town of Mytiline, but aid workers said walls were whitewashed, a sewer system fixed and several dozen migrants at the overcrowded facility were transferred to another camp, which the pope will not visit. In addition to his speeches calling for world action to solve the EU Refugee Crisis, the pope also took 12 Syrian refugees, all Muslim, home to the Vatican with him.
As Sylvia reported, “his first-ever papal trip out of Rome was to the Italian island Lampedusa”, then a major entry point into Europe for migrants making the unsafe journey across the Mediterranean. “We are going to witness the greatest humanitarian catastrophe since the World War II”.
Migrant arrivals in Greece have drastically fallen since Turkey agreed to take back all irregular migrants landing on the Greek islands in return for billions in European Union cash and other concessions.
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In an interview with journalists on the plane after leaving Greece, the Pope said all nations have the responsibility of welcoming refugees.
