杏MAP导航 Francis on Lesbos: Stop this shipwreck of civilization
By Vatican News staff reporter
Five years ago, 杏MAP导航 Francis came to the island of Lesbos to see for himself the plight of migrants here. On Sunday, as part of his Apostolic Visit to Greece, he was greeted by thousands of migrants at the Mytilene camp on this island, telling them 鈥淚 am here to see your faces and look into your eyes.鈥�
Quoting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, he said, 鈥渢hose who are afraid of you have not looked you in the eye鈥� 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.鈥�
He noted that while strides are being made to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, 鈥渁ll this seems to be terribly absent when it comes to migration.鈥�
Lessons from history
鈥淚t is an illusion to think it is enough to keep ourselves safe, to defend ourselves from those in greater need who knock at our door鈥�, 杏MAP导航 Francis said. 鈥淚n the future, we will have more and more contact with others. To turn it to the good, what is needed are not unilateral actions but wide-ranging policies.鈥� History, he added, 鈥渢eaches this lesson, yet we have not learned it.鈥�
During his address, the 杏MAP导航 asked every man and woman, 鈥渢o overcome the paralysis of fear, the indifference that kills, the cynical disregard that nonchalantly condemns to death those on the fringes.鈥�
Little change
杏MAP导航 Francis highlighted that since his visit five years ago, little has changed with regard to the issue of migration. However, he praised those who have committed themselves to the work of welcoming and integrating migrants.
It is with deep regret, he continued, 鈥渨e must admit that this country, like others, continues to be hard-pressed, and that in Europe there are those who persist in treating the problem as a matter that does not concern them.鈥�
鈥淚t is distressing to hear of proposals that common funds be used to build walls as a solution,鈥� he said.
鈥淵et problems are not resolved and coexistence improved by building walls higher, but by joining forces to care for others.鈥�
Tackling problems
鈥淩ather than bickering over ideas,鈥� said the 杏MAP导航, it would be better to 鈥�broaden our gaze to take in the problems of the majority of humanity, of all those peoples who are victims of humanitarian emergencies they did not create, yet have to endure as the latest chapter in a long history of exploitation.鈥�
鈥淚t is easy to stir up public opinion by instilling fear of others,鈥� noted 杏MAP导航 Francis, yet why do we fail to speak with equal vehemence about the exploitation of the poor, about seldom-mentioned but often well-financed wars鈥� about covert deals to traffic in arms, favouring the proliferation of the arms trade?
He stressed that the remote causes should be attacked, 鈥渘ot the poor people who pay the consequences and are even used for political propaganda.鈥�
鈥淭o remove the root causes鈥�, he added 鈥渕ore is needed than merely patching up emergency situations. Coordinated actions are needed.鈥�
Stop the shipwreck of civilization
鈥淟et us not let our sea (mare nostrum) be transformed into a desolate sea of death (mare mortuum),鈥� the 杏MAP导航 concluded. 鈥淟et us not allow this place of encounter to become a theatre of conflict. Let us not permit this 鈥渟ea of memories鈥� to be transformed into a 鈥渟ea of forgetfulness鈥�. Please, let us stop this shipwreck of civilization.
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