Pope Francis embarks on a two-day visit to Marseille, addressing issues such as migration through a message of fraternity, tolerance, and human dignity amid Europe’s debates over asylum seekers.
Pope Francis heads Friday to Marseille for a two-day visit focused on the Mediterranean and migration, bringing a message of tolerance amid bitter debate over how Europe manages asylum seekers.
The desperate conditions that cause many people to leave their homes for a new life and the risks they take to do so have been a key theme in the 86-year-old’s decade as head of the worldwide Catholic Church.
But his visit to the French port city to participate in a meeting of Mediterranean-area Catholic bishops and young people puts him at the center of a political storm.
A surge in migrant boats arriving from North Africa on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa last week triggered outrage both in Italy and beyond.
The European Union promised more help for Rome, while France, amid wrangling over a draft law governing migrant arrivals there, said it would not accept anyone from Lampedusa.
Migration “represents a challenge that is not easy, as we also see from the news in recent days, but which must be faced together,” Francis said at the Vatican on Sunday.
“It is essential for the future of all, which will be prosperous only if it is built on fraternity, putting human dignity and real people, especially those most in need, in first place.”
The pope, who prefers to visit small Catholic communities worldwide, has clarified that his trip is not to France but specifically Marseille.
He become the first pope in 500 years to visit the city, a historic gateway for immigrants and also home to some of the poorest neighborhoods in Europe, many of which are plagued by drug trafficking.
He will head to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde, a symbolic monument overlooking the city, for a prayer with local clergy on Friday afternoon.
That will be followed by a moment of meditation with representatives of other religions in front of a memorial to sailors and migrants lost at sea.
The United Nations estimates more than 28,000 migrants who tried to cross the Mediterranean have gone missing since 2014.
On Saturday morning, the pope will take part in the closing session of the “Mediterranean Meetings” event.
As well as migration, it will cover issues such as economic inequality and climate change, also themes close to the pope’s heart.
He will then be driven in his Popemobile through the city, where tens of thousands of pilgrims are expected for the visit, despite the decline of Catholicism in France.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
