‘You are not alone,’ pope tells refugees in emotional Lesbos visit
At detention center on the Greek island, pontiff urges world to show ‘common humanity’; plans to take 3 families back to Rome
Pope Francis on Saturday paid an emotional visit to a refugee center on the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, in a high-profile trip that came on the heels of a controversial European Union plan to deport asylum seekers back to Turkey.
“You are not alone,” he told the refugees he encountered on Lesbos, and urged the world to show “common humanity” in the face of a refugee crisis unprecedented since the end of World War II.
The pontiff was on the Greek island for a five-hour visit during which he spent time with the refugees, accompanied by Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and the head of the Church of Greece Archbishop Ieronymos.
Francis was met at the Moria detention center by a group of unaccompanied teens who have made the perilous journeys from their homelands to Greece alone. The leaders then moved on to greet women and young children who stood behind a low metal barrier. The pope, patriarch and archbishop shook their hands and patted some of the children on the cheek, while some of the gathered refugees snapped pictures of the pontiff on mobile phones.
One man wept uncontrollably and wailed as he knelt down before Francis and said: “Thank you, God. Thank you! Please Father, bless me!”
Children offered Francis drawings and the pope praised one little girl for her artwork, saying “Bravo. Bravo.” Then as he handed it off to his staff he stressed: “Don’t fold it. I want it on my desk.”
As he walked by them, shaking hands with the men and bowing to the women, the refugees shouted out their homelands: “Afghanistan.” ”Syria.”
One little boy ducked his head through a fence to kiss Francis’ ring.
An official from Greece’s state refugee coordination agency said Francis, who has repeatedly spoken out about the plight of the migrants risking their lives to reach Europe, wanted to take back a small number of refugees from Lesbos.
The chosen refugees are expected to be from those who arrived on Lesbos before the EU-Turkey deportation deal took effect in March, the official told AFP, without specifying whether this would take place immediately after the pope’s five-hour visit or at a later stage.
Greek public television ERT said three families from Kara Tepe refugee camp on Lesbos, who were chosen in a draw, would be the ones to go.
The Vatican is already hosting two refugee families, so the gesture would be in keeping with Francis’ call for Europe to open its hearts and borders to those most in need.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met Francis as he descended the stairs from the plane after landing on the island on Saturday morning. Bartholomew and Ieronymos both greeted the pope with a kiss on each cheek before the Greek and Italian national anthems were played. The head of Lesbos’ tiny Catholic community was also present.
During a brief meeting at the airport, Francis thanked Tsipras for the “generosity” shown by the Greek people in welcoming foreigners despite their own economic troubles and called for a response to the migration crisis that respects European and international law, the Vatican said.
In a synchronized post on Twitter, the pope called for a more humane approach to refugees, who he said were “people who have faces, names, stories, and need to be treated as such.”
Refugees are not numbers, they are people who have faces, names, stories, and need to be treated as such.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 16, 2016
Tsipras, for his part, said he was proud of Greece’s response “at a time when some of our partners — even in the name of Christian Europe — were erecting walls and fences to prevent defenseless people from seeking a better life.”
Francis and the two Orthodox leaders, officially divided from Catholics over a 1,000-year schism, then traveled to the main detention center on Lesbos to greet some 250 refugees stuck there.
The religious leaders were to lunch with eight refugees to hear their stories of fleeing war, conflict and poverty and their hopes for a better life in Europe. And then they were to pray together, tossing a floral wreath into the sea in memory of those who perished trying to make the perilous crossing.
“This is a voyage marked by sadness, a sad voyage,” the pope told reporters during the flight from Rome.
“We will witness the worst humanitarian disaster since the Second World War. We will see so many people who are suffering, who are fleeing and do not know where to go,” he said.
“And we are also going to a cemetery, the sea. So many people never arrived,” he said.
The visit was seen as putting pressure on the controversial EU agreement with Turkey, under which Ankara agreed to take back any asylum seekers who land in Greece. The deal effectively closes off a route into Europe via the Aegean Sea smuggling route, through which more than 850,000 people reportedly reached the continent last year.
The Times of Israel Community.