Do not exploit migrants for politics, says the Pope on a visit to Lesbos Migration News

Pope Francis’ second visit to the Greek island of Lesbos has denounced Europe’s fear and indifference to migrants.

Pope Francis has denounced Europe’s indifference to the plight of migrants as a “catastrophe of civilization” during a visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

On Sunday, the head of the Catholic Church arrived at the Mavrovouni camp, where about 2,200 asylum seekers now live. The main theme of the migration is the second day of a five-day visit to Greece and Cyprus.

“I urge all men and women, all of them, to overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference that kills them, the cynical indifference that condemns those on the sidelines to death indifferently,” she said. “Please stop this shipwreck of civilization.”

In Latin terms, he called for the Mediterranean Sea to remain a bridge between cultures.

“Let’s not let our sea (mare nostrum) turn into a desolate sea of ​​death (mare mortuum),” he said.

He also condemned the exploitation of migrants for political purposes and lamented the fact that Europe had entered a “time of walls and wires”.

The pope last visited Lesbos in 2016, when more than a million people crossed from Turkey to Greece and the island became one of the most crowded. crossing points. On this occasion, Francis brought 12 Syrian Muslim refugees go home with him On the Pope’s plane.

No such transfer was announced this time, but a visit to the camp still sparked hope among residents, some of whom have given birth to children while waiting to process asylum applications.

Congolese Enice Kiaku gave birth in Guiliain two years ago. He was born on the Greek island but has no identity card.

“The arrival of the Pope is a blessing,” Kiaku told The Associated Press. “We have a lot of problems here as refugees, a lot of suffering.”

She was sung by a group of African women who welcomed her when Francis arrived. The head of the children and babies caressed him while he was camping and taking selfies.

Pope Francis greeted the children at the Mavrovouni camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. [Vatican Media/­Handout via Reuters]

He was accompanied by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas.

Greece has recently built a steel wall on part of its border with Turkey and is seizing vessels carrying migrants from Turkey.

He denies any short-term deportations of migrants arriving in Greek territory, but human rights groups say there have been a number of such setbacks.

Francis also listened to the camp’s residents, including Christian Tango Mukaya, the father of three Congolese children, and thanked the pope for his solidarity and call for Europe.

The refugee said he had lost track of his wife and their third child on the trip and hoped to reconcile his sightings with the pope.

Mavrovouni is a temporary detention center awaiting the construction of a “closed controlled facility” on the island.

This news closed campsFunded by the European Union, they are already on the other three Greek islands, Samos, Leros and Kos.

Amnesty International has said that the new EU-funded detention facilities in the Greek islands are violating Athens’ commitments to provide international protection to those in need.