Don’t exploit migrants for politics: Pope

dpa Athens Pope Francis flew to the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday where he shook hands, spoke with migrants and placed his hand on children’s heads. As ...

dpaAthensPope Francis flew to the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday where he shook hands, spoke with migrants and placed his hand on children’s heads.As cardinals and politicians sat together with other migrants in a marquee, awaiting the pontiff’s prayer session there, Francis took his time walking along the gravel path, greeting hundreds of people.“I am here to tell you that I am close to you. I am here to see your faces and look you in the eye. Eyes full of fear and expectation, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes redened from too many tears,” the 84-year-old told the crowd.Francis, who has used his current eastern Mediterranean tour to highlight the plight of migrants and refugees, last visited Lesbos in 2016, when the notoriously overcrowded Moria camp still existed.That camp burned down in 2020, so Francis met the migrants at a new facility in Kara Tepe, where the UN Refugee Agency has set up white containers to house people.Still, the conditions at the site are fairly miserable. Around 2,200 migrants currently live at Kara Tepe, a former military shooting range surrounded by barbed-wire fencing.“We have been here for three years,” a man called Hamad said.After a five-month journey from Afghanistan, he and his wife, together with their three children, first ended up at Moria, before moving down to the new camp on the Aegean coast.They are hoping for the pope’s support. “We need help,” said Hamad, who was in the marquee to watch the sermon.A few rows behind sat Orphee, a 28-year-old who fled his native Congo and arrived in Lesbos with his pregnant wife Rosette on June 1. Their daughter Maduda was born on September 21.“We want a life without this tension and uncertainty,” Orphee said.Francis said that migration is “a world problem, a humanitarian crisis that concerns everyone,” telling the migrants that “your faces, your eyes ask us not to turn away.” The head of the Catholic Church had harsh words for politicians and the public.He also visited Cyprus as part of his trip, where he gave an impassioned speech on Friday decrying the “universal slavery” seen in ongoing migration crises.On Lesbos, Francis lamented the fact that “little has changed” since his first visit five years ago, adding that Greece was doing its best but had been left in the lurch.“Let us overcome the paralysing fear, the deadly indifference, the cynical disinterest that in kid gloves condemns to death those who stand on the sidelines,” he said.The problem is not confined to Lesbos. According to UN figures, there are currently around 82 million migrants worldwide.After his prayer, Francis was approached by two girls who received gifts.Before departing the island, Francis once again got out of his black Fiat 500 to speak with migrants.“If we want to start anew, let us look above all into the faces of children,” the pope said as boys rode around on bicycles. “Let us find the courage to be ashamed before those who are innocent and who represent the future.” In parallel with Francis’ visit, the Vatican is arranging for dozens of refugees to accompany the pope back to Italy.