Pope Francis challenged French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders to open their ports to people fleeing hardship and poverty, insisting Saturday that the continent does not face a migration “emergency” but rather a long-standing reality. deadline that governments must humanely address.
For the second day in a row in the French port city of Marseille, Francis took aim at European countries that have used “alarmist propaganda” to justify closing their doors to immigrants and tried to shame them into responding with charity.
He called for immigrants to have legal pathways to citizenship, and for the Mediterranean Sea that so many cross to reach Europe to be a beacon of hope, not a graveyard of despair.
The Mediterranean, Francis told Macron and a meeting of regional bishops, “cries out for justice, with its coasts that on the one hand exude wealth, consumerism and waste, while on the other there is poverty and instability.”
The pope’s visit to the city in southern France, which attracted some 150,000 supporters on Saturday, comes as Italy’s far-right government has reacted to a new wave of migrants by threatening to organize a naval blockade of Tunisia and intensify repatriations.
The French government, for its part, has stepped up patrols on its southern border to prevent migrants in Italy from crossing.
Pope Francis is received by French President Emmanuel Macron upon his arrival at the final session of the “Rencontres Mediterraneennes” at the Palais du Pharo.AP
Once the bishops’ meeting ended, Macron and Francis held a private meeting for half an hour. They discussed immigration issues and a host of other topics, the French presidency said, adding that both leaders share a “joint will” to bring humane solutions to the situation.
France is a “host country” for migrants – especially asylum seekers – and is supporting European solidarity policies, including through financing and combating human trafficking, the French presidency said. The Vatican did not provide information about the meeting.
Macron’s centrist government has taken a harder line on migration and security issues after coming under fire from French conservatives and the far right. With elections for the European Union parliament scheduled for next year, Macron is pushing for the EU to strengthen its external borders and be more efficient in deporting people who are denied entry.
People wait for the arrival of Pope Francis at the “Stadium Velodrome” in Marseille, France, to celebrate mass, on Saturday, September 23, 2023. AP
Macron greeted Francis on a breezy walk overlooking Marseille’s old port and helped him walk to the Lighthouse Palace for the meeting of Mediterranean bishops.
With his wife at his side, the French leader listened to a young Italian volunteer working in Greece and the bishop of Tirana, Albania, who fled to Italy during Albania’s communist regime, talk about the reception they received in foreign countries.
“May we allow ourselves to be moved by the stories of so many of our unfortunate brothers and sisters who have the right to emigrate and not to emigrate, no longer to lock themselves in indifference,” Francis said. “Faced with the terrible scourge of the exploitation of human beings, the solution is not to reject but to guarantee, according to each person’s possibilities, a large number of legal and regular entries.”
Francis’s two-day trip was scheduled months ago, but is taking place as mass migration to Europe once again hits the headlines. Nearly 7,000 migrants who boarded smugglers’ boats in Tunisia landed on the small Italian island of Lampedusa in one day last week, briefly outnumbering the resident population.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Pope Francis met at the Palais du Pharo.AP
However, Francis said that talk of a migration “emergency” only fuels “alarmist propaganda” and stokes people’s fears.
“Those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they seek shelter, life,” he stated. “As for the emergency, the phenomenon of migration is not so much a short-term emergency, always good for fueling alarmist propaganda, but a reality of our times.”
In addition to Macron, the Pope’s audience on Saturday included European Commission Vice President Margarítis Schinás, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who said France would not accept new immigrants from Lampedusa.
The French president and first lady Brigitte Macron later attended Francis’ final Mass at the Velodrome in Marseille, which drew about 50,000 people and featured a giant banner of the pope raised in the stands.
The Vatican, citing local organizers, said 100,000 more people lined Marseille’s central Avenue du Prado to applaud the passing of its popemobile.
Francis, during a two-day visit, will join Catholic bishops from the Mediterranean region in discussions that will focus primarily on migration.AP
The first Latin American Pope in history has made the plight of immigrants a priority of his 10-year pontificate. On his first trip as Pope, he traveled to Lampedusa to honor immigrants who had drowned while trying to cross the sea.
In the years since, he celebrated Mass on the U.S.-Mexico border, met with Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, and, in a visible sign of his commitment, brought home 12 Syrian Muslims on his plane after visiting a refugee camp. refugees in Lesvos, Greece.
Immigrants and their advocates living in Marseille, which has a long tradition of multicultural hospitality, said Francis’ call for charity and paths to citizenship gave them hope that at least someone in Europe would sympathize with their plight.
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, and his wife Brigitte, to his left, listen to Pope Francis as he delivers his speech at the final session of the “Rencontres Mediterraneennes” meeting.AP
“It’s a very beautiful opportunity for us,” said Francky Domingo, who is part of a Marseille-based association that represents immigrants seeking official identification documents. “We really want the Pope to be our spokesperson to politicians because the European policy on migration is very, very repressive for us immigrants.”
Stephanie Tomasini, a 48-year-old Marseille resident who attended the mass, said the pope sent an important message. “We should be able to… reach out and share, we should all do that. Today we are not facing difficulties, but we could have them tomorrow and we will want someone to open the doors for us,” she said.
Many faithful came from all French regions to see the Pope, who last visited the country almost a decade ago. Catherine Etienne, from Brest in western France, watched Francis’ parade with joy. “We are very happy to have seen the Pope. “We are very moved,” she said.
Pope Francis kisses a baby upon his arrival at the “Velodrome Stadium” in Marseille, France.AP
In his comments, Francis also reiterated his opposition to euthanasia, which he has long denounced as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” that treats the elderly and sick as expendable.
Labeling euthanasia a “social evil,” he criticized supporters of assisted suicide for providing “false pretenses of a supposedly dignified and ‘sweet’ death that is ‘saltier’ than the waters of the sea.”
The issue is current in France, where Macron is expected to present a bill in the coming weeks that would legalize end-of-life options in France. French media reported that he delayed introducing the measure until after the pope’s visit to avoid the sensitive issue getting in the way.
No details of the government’s proposal have been released, but several options are being considered, including legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia for adult patients with incurable diseases under strict conditions ensuring their free and informed consent.
The French presidency said Francis and Macron discussed the issue during their bilateral meeting, but did not go into details.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn