Pope Francis: "Life must be saved at sea but European responsibility is needed"

Speaking of the "

", Pope Francis answers a question from the press during the return flight from the trip to Bahrain: "Do you know that

?

graveyard

largest in the world ". 

The issue of migrants "

" while "the principle" is that "migrants must be welcomed, accompanied, promoted and integrated, if these four steps cannot be taken, work with migrants cannot be good. accompanied, promoted and integrated, to reach integration. And second thing I say: every government of the European Union must agree on how many migrants it can receive ".

Thus

, underlining how "on the contrary, there are four countries that receive migrants: Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain, which are the closest to the Mediterranean".

"In the hinterland - added the Pontiff - there are some, such as Poland, Belarus ... but (speaking) of the many migrants of the sea:

", he clarified.

The policy on migrants - Bergoglio continued - must be agreed between the countries, and "the Union must take in hand a policy of collaboration and help. The policy of the countries for now has been to save the victims and this government has the same policy. I do not know him but he has landed

, I have heard in the last hours or at least the intention was there. But Italy and this government, or even a left-wing government, cannot do anything without agreement at European level and European responsibility ".  

"The new government begins now, I am here: I wish it the best. I always wish the best to a government because the government is for everyone, and I wish it the best so that it can carry Italy forward" and "to all the others who are against the winning party, who

, with the help, but a collaborative government, not a government where they make you fall if you don't like one thing or the other. responsibility".

So Pope Francis.

"Tell me - said the Pontiff addressing the journalist - is it right that from the beginning of the century up to now Italy has had 20 governments? Let's finish with these jokes".

Francis then recalled that "a woman statesman,

said that the problem of migrants must be solved in Africa. But if we continue to think that Africa should be exploited, it is logical that we will have migrants. Instead, we need a plan of defense. development of Africa, where some countries are not masters of their own subsoil and we continue to have a colonial power attitude towards them. The exploitation of people is terrible. If we want to solve the problems of migrants, we solve the problems of Africa and there are fewer of them ".

HANDLE

Boat with migrants on board

Pope Bergoglio

also spoke with journalists on the

situation : "The cruelties that are happening in Ukraine do not belong to the Russian people and the Holy See is continually attentive and works well" to achieve peace. "The day after the war - he went back to telling - I thought I had to go to the Russian ambassador, a man of open-mindedness.

I said I was also willing to go to Russia.

I was told that for the moment there was no need.

I spoke twice with

- he later said - the Holy See does what it has to do.

To free prisoners, but these are things we always do ". 

Francis then said that "it strikes the cruelty that is not of the Russian people. The Russian people are great, but it is mercenaries and soldiers who go to war as you do in an adventure. Just think of

that inspires us, to Christianity.

I have affection for the Russian people and also for the Ukrainian people. "He then told an anecdote:" When I was 10 I was an altar boy with a Ukrainian priest and I learned a few words.

I am in the midst of two peoples I love. "The Pope then" complained "that" in a century there have been three world wars, because this is a world war.

It is true that when empires weaken they wage war also to sell arms.

Today the greatest calamity is the arms industry.

If in a year no more weapons were made, hunger in the world would end ". 

He then cited the other, many situations of conflict around the world: "Think of

more than ten years of war, children have nothing to eat. The

in Myanmar. It is terrible, in

I hope something will stop . But we are at war everywhere. Now it touches us closely in Europe. Think of

, 13 years of war and nobody knows what is going on in there.

We said about

. You journalists be pacifists, speak against wars. please ", he concluded.

(Photo AP / LIBKOS)

Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions with a US-supplied M777 howitzer in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Sunday 23 October 2022.