Pope Francis is spending a couple of days in the southern French city of Marseille, where, along with President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, he is attending the “Rencontres Mediterraneennes” meeting.
It is the first visit by a pope to France’s second largest city in 500 years, and more than 100,000 people are expected to turn out to see the 86-year-old pontiff.
Francis’ visit comes as the EU is shaken by the overwhelming number of migrants arriving, leading to countries in Europe implementing border fences, repatriations and even talking about the the possibility of a naval blockade to keep refugees out.
Out-of-touch Pope Francis ‘challenged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to open their ports to people fleeing hardship and poverty.’
“For a second straight day in the French port city of Marseille, Francis took aim at European countries that have tried to close their doors to migrants and tried to shame them into responding with charity instead.
‘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 told Macron and others at a Marseille conference centre where Mediterranean region Catholic bishops are meeting. “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’.”
Francis’ two-day trip takes place as mass migration to Europe is once again out of control.
Nearly 7,000 migrants came ashore on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa within a day last week, briefly outnumbering the resident population.
Ignoring the incredible burden that this puts on European families, Francis said that the ‘talk of a migration emergency’ only fuels ‘alarmist propaganda’ and stokes fear.
1 comment:
Just how many refugees has the Vatican housed inside the walls of their secure facility. Yeshua warned and despised hypocrites.
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