Migrants: in Lesbos, the Pope calls for an end to a shipwreck of civilization

Europe 1 with AFP 3:31 p.m., December 5, 2021, modified at 3:31 p.m., December 5, 2021

Pope Francis called on Sunday for an end to a "shipwreck of civilization" in a rousing speech at the Mavrovouni migrant camp in Lesbos, five years after his first visit to this Greek island emblematic of the migration crisis.

The Mediterranean "is becoming a cold cemetery without tombstones", "like a mirror of death. Let us not allow the mare nostrum to turn into a desolate mare mortuum, let this meeting place become the theater of conflicts! (...) I beg you, let's stop this sinking of civilization! ", Launched the sovereign pontiff in front of migrants in the camp of Lesbos.

>> READ ALSO -

 Visit of the Pope to Lesbos: "He sees unworthy situations and he tries to respond to them"

Visibly moved, the Pope called to "look at the faces of children". "Let us have the courage to feel shame in front of them, who are innocent and represent the future," he urged. "Let's not run away too quickly from the crude images of their little bodies lying on the beaches". Again castigating "withdrawal into oneself and nationalisms", the Pope called "not to turn your back on reality", attacking forcefully "the indifference that kills, the cynical disinterest which, with his velvet gloves, condemn those who are on the margins to death! " "I am here to see your faces, to look you in the eyes. Eyes filled with fear and expectation, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes fogged up with too many tears," he also said. Pope,greeted by religious songs in French and Lingala.

Against the construction of walls

The pontiff also judged "sad to hear proposing as a solution the use of common funds to build walls", because "it is not by raising barriers that the problems have been solved".

He considered "on the other hand necessary to accompany the processes of the interior to overcome the ghettoizations and to favor a slow and essential integration", before saying Hail Mary, taken up by the assistance.

A few minutes earlier, the Pope had been greeted by a walkabout by migrants who had gathered between the containers and the tents of the camp.

In a very warm atmosphere, he greeted and blessed the families present at length, including many children.

“Welcome!”, “We love you”, we could hear.

He also distributed presents to migrants, such as a rosary given to a 60-year-old from Afghanistan, before taking the plane to Athens where he is to celebrate a mass in front of 2,500 faithful.