Visibly impaired by increasing knee pain, Pope Francis visited the islands of Malta and Gozo at the weekend.

During a meeting with government representatives and diplomats at the start of his visit to Valletta on Saturday, the Pope lamented the growing misery of refugees in Europe and criticized the EU's handling of the migration problem.

"The aggravation of the misery of migration, especially of the refugees from the tormented Ukraine, requires comprehensive common answers," Francis demanded.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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The Mediterranean should not "become the largest cemetery in Europe," said the Pope.

Addressing his hosts, Francis called for more action in the fight against corruption.

Malta must be protected from "greed, greed and building speculation".

Pope calls for end to fighting in Ukraine

On several occasions, on the 36th trip abroad of his pontificate, the Pope forcefully called for an end to the fighting in Ukraine.

Without naming Russian President Vladimir Putin, Francis castigated the “infantile and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronistic claims to nationalist interests.”

At the end of an open-air mass in Floriana near Valletta, the Pope said to around 12,000 believers on Sunday: "Let us pray for peace and let us think of the humanitarian tragedy of the martyred Ukraine." The country is suffering the bombardments of a "sacrilegious war".

On Saturday, Francis led a prayer meeting at the Maltese national shrine of Ta' Pinu in Gozo.

Shortly before his return journey on Sunday afternoon, Francis visited a reception center run by the Catholic Church in Hal Far, in southern Malta.

There he met about 200 migrants from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan who had made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean from Libya.

The motto of the trip was taken from the Acts of the Apostles “They showed us unusual kindness”.

The word comes from the apostle Paul, who, according to Christian legend, was stranded on Malta in the year 60 and is said to have spent three months in the Paulus grotto after the shipwreck.

On Sunday, Francis went to the grotto near the city of Rabat for morning prayers.