Pope Brings 12 Syrian Refugees Back to Italy As Lesson To Europe
Pope Francis brought 12 Syrian refugees back with him to the Vatican after an emotional visit to Greece.
The Vatican said Francis wanted to make a "gesture of welcome" to the three Muslim families and also send an example to Europe on how they should respond to the migrant crisis.
"God will repay this generosity and that of other surrounding nations, who from the beginning have welcomed with great openness the large number of people forced to migrate," said Francis.
The Greek island of Lesbos, just a few miles from the Turkish coast, has seen hundreds of thousands of desperate people land on its shores in the last year, fleeing war and poverty at home.
Francis visited the island alongside Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens to thank Greece for its welcome and highlight the plight of refugees as the European Union implements a plan to deport them back to Turkey.
The deal between the EU and Turkey requires that anyone arriving in Greece on or after March 20 will be returned to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum.
For every Syrian sent back, the EU will take another Syrian directly from Turkey for resettlement in Europe. In return, Turkey will recieve billions of euros to deal with the more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees living there. Turkish officials promised that its stalled accession talks with the EU would speed up.
During a ceremony at the port of Lesbos, Francis said he understood Europe's concern about the migrant influx. But he said migrants are first of all human beings "who have faces, names and individual stories" and deserve to have their most basic human rights respected.
In his remarks to the crowd, Francis assured the refugees that they were not alone and shouldn't lose hope. He said he wanted to visit them to hear their stories and to bring the world's attention to their plight.
"We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity," Francis said. "May all our brothers and sisters on this continent, like the Good Samaritan, come to your aid in the spirit of fraternity, solidarity and respect for human dignity that has distinguished its long history."
Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and the archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos II, then signed a joint declaration calling on the international community to make the protection of human lives a priority and to extend temporary asylum to those in need.
The declaration also called on political leaders to use all means to ensure that everyone, particularly Christians, can remain in their homelands and enjoy the "fundamental right to live in peace and security."
"The world will be judged by the way it has treated you," Bartholomew told the refugees. "And we will all be accountable for the way we respond to the crisis and conflict in the regions that you come from."
