Pope Leo XIV visited the Italian island of Lampedusa on Saturday, calling on Europe to adopt a long-term strategic plan to welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants arriving from Africa. During a homily at the island’s symbolic port, he urged the continent to live up to its historical and cultural potential and take responsibility for the migration crisis.
Leo XIV began his visit by paying tribute to migrants who died at sea, walking among the crosses made from boat wood at the local cemetery. He then visited the Porta d’Europa monument, dedicated to victims of Mediterranean shipwrecks. In his homily, the pope recalled the parable of the Good Samaritan. – Today Lampedusa and Linosa lie on a road as dangerous as that from Jerusalem to Jericho. Here you have seen not one man but thousands of people who fell into the hands of robbers: they stripped them, beat them and left them half dead. Others – those who did not manage to reach the place they hoped to – were received by the sea – he said.
The pontiff thanked volunteers, civil institutions, coast guard, local authorities and Church people for their support. – Among you, love has taken an organized shape, that compassion which sees a brother at sea is like a first stir, a deep call to dare what you never thought of – he stated. He also greeted migrants who themselves helped their fellow travelers.
A call for a comprehensive strategy
Leo XIV argued that Europe, because of its geography and institutional framework, is capable of addressing the migration crisis in a holistic manner. – Including first aid in a long-term strategic plan, able to welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants, while at the same time working for development so that no one is forced to emigrate – he said. He stressed that from Lampedusa one can clearly see „the epochal challenge” that migration poses to European societies.
The pope condemned „indifference to the common good and corruption in the places migrants leave from, the global economic system that creates poverty and exclusion, fear that feeds prejudice and contempt, the belief that these problems do not concern us, and the criminal calculations of those who profit from others’ drama.” The last words referred to smugglers who send migrants in boats from African shores toward Europe.
Condemnation of indifference and exploitation
– In every age there are people who fear being 'contaminated’ by contact with others and thus, even in the face of suffering and death, deny the common origin from God, the infinite dignity of every human being, and the call to love without limits. (…) It is time to recognize and say clearly that religious affiliation can never become a reason for discrimination – the pope declared. He expressed confidence that those who allow themselves to be drawn into „the dynamics of compassion and mercy” begin to live differently.
Leo XIV referenced his saintly predecessors: John XXIII, Paul VI and John Paul II, who understood that only mercy can respond with new beginnings to the abysses of the human heart and the horrors of war. – Standing on the shoulders of these giants, we have entered the millennium in which we are to give the civilization of love a spiritual, cultural, legal, political and economic shape. Let the immense suffering we see allow us to grasp the radical nature of this call – he said.
During his homily, the pope also noted that those who died in the sea are victims of decisions both made and omitted. He emphasized that the Mediterranean, and especially Lampedusa, is a place where the world’s challenges become visible, and Europe must respond with courage and foresight.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
