Pope Francis has challenged European leaders to open their ports to folks fleeing hardship and poverty, insisting the continent doesn’t face a migration “emergency” however quite a long-term actuality governments should take care of humanely.
Speaking within the French port metropolis of Marseille, the pontiff criticised European international locations which have tried to shut their doorways to migrants and urged them to reply with charity as an alternative.
“May we let ourselves be moved by the stories of so many of our unfortunate brothers and sisters who have the right both to emigrate and not to emigrate, and not become closed in indifference,” Francis advised French President Emmanuel Macron and others at a convention centre the place Mediterranean area Catholic bishops are assembly.
“In the face of the terrible scourge of the exploitation of human beings, the solution is not to reject but to ensure, according to the possibilities of each, an ample number of legal and regular entrances.”
The pope’s go to to southern France comes as Italy’s far right-led authorities reacted to a brand new wave of arriving migrants by threatening to organise a naval blockade of Tunisia and step up reparations.
Some 7,000 migrants got here ashore on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa inside sooner or later final week, briefly outnumbering the resident inhabitants.
The French authorities has elevated patrols on its southern border to cease migrants in Italy from crossing over.
Meanwhile within the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping small boat crossings from France one in every of his 5 key priorities for his authorities, however his plans for bringing down unlawful immigration – together with the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset and a scheme to ship migrants to Rwanda – have been mired in issues and delays.
Talk of migration ’emergency’ fuels ‘alarmist propaganda’
Francis stated speak of a migration “emergency” solely fuels “alarmist propaganda” and stokes folks’s fears.
“Those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they look for welcome, for life,” he stated.
“As for the emergency, the phenomenon of migration is not so much a short-term urgency, always good for fuelling alarmist propaganda, but a reality of our times, a process that involves three continents around the Mediterranean and that must be governed with wise foresight, including a European response capable of coping with the objective difficulties.”
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Pope has made migrants’ plight a key coverage
It comes as 27 migrants whose boat was sinking have been rescued off the coast of north Lebanon, the nation’s navy stated in a press release.
Francis has made the plight of migrants a key coverage of his 10-year hold forth, travelling to Lampedusa on his first journey as pope to honour migrants who drowned.
He has since celebrated Mass on the US-Mexico border, met Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees and introduced residence 12 Syrian Muslims on his aircraft after visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece.
Source: information.sky.com”