Five years ago on this island, the Ecumenical Patriarch, my dear brother Bartholomew, said something that struck me: “Those who are afraid of you have not looked you in the eye. Those who are afraid of you have not seen your faces. Those who fear you have not seen your children. They have forgotten that dignity and freedom transcend fear and division. They have forgotten that migration is not an issue for the Middle East and Northern Africa, for Europe and Greece. It is an issue for the world” (Address, 16 April 2016).
Pope Francis thus began an address to refugees at the "Reception and Identification Centre" in Mytilene, on his last full day in Greece, December 5.
Just before his speech, the Pope listened to testimonies, including that of Christian Tango Mukaya, who arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo a year ago. This father of three said he was looking for "a safe place and shelter, peace, the survival of [his] family."
Pope Francis reflected that global progress is being made in responding to the pandemic, or in addressing climate change, but in the migrant issue, there's no such progress.
The Pope cited Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, "a witness to the greatest tragedy of the last century," who said that "I refuse to forget that their future is as important as my own.”
"On this Sunday, I ask God to rouse us from our disregard for those who are suffering," Francis said, "to shake us from an individualism that excludes others, to awaken hearts that are deaf to the needs of our neighbours."
The Pope entrusted this tragedy to Our Lady.
Here are some images from the visit:
