Pope condemns ‘shipwreck of civilisation’ while comforting migrants in Greece
- On this second trip to Lesbos in five years, pontiff lamented little had changed since he had brought 12 Syrian Muslim refugees home on the papal plane
- He called for ‘every man and woman’ to ‘overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference that kills, the cynical disregard that nonchalantly condemns to death those on the fringes’
Pope Francis returned to the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday to offer comfort to migrants at a refugee camp and blasted what he said was the indifference and self-interest shown by Europe “that condemns to death those on the fringes.”
“Please, let us stop this shipwreck of civilisation!” Pope Francis said at the Mavrovouni camp, a cluster of white UN containers on the edge of the sea lined by barbed wire fencing and draped with laundry hanging from lines.
Arriving at the camp, a maskless Pope took his time walking along the barricades, patting children and babies on the head and posing for selfies. He gave a “thumbs up” after he was serenaded by African women singing a song of welcome.
It was Francis’ second trip to Lesbos in five years and he lamented that little had changed since 2016, when Lesbos was at the heart of a massive wave of migration to Europe and he brought 12 Syrian Muslim refugees home with him aboard the papal plane.
That concrete gesture of solidarity had raised hopes among the current residents of the Lesbos camp, many of whom have given birth to children while waiting for their asylum claims to be processed, and saw in Francis’ visit a chance to finally get out.
“It is a grace for us that the Pope is coming here. We have a lot of problems here as refugees, a lot of suffering,” said Enice Kiaku from Congo, whose two-year-old son sitting on her lap was born on Lesbos. Neither has identity documents and are stuck.