2016-04-16 17:32:00

Caritas official: Papal visit to Lesbos had huge impact


(Vatican Radio) A senior official of Caritas Internationalis said the Pope’s 6-hour visit to the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday brought to the fore the urgency of tackling the refugee crisis which is a huge moral issue for both the European Union and the world.  Patrick Nicholson, Head of Communications at Caritas Internationalis, said the papal trip and its message also underlined that we can no longer treat people like commodities to be traded between countries. Nicholson who was in Lesbos during the Pope’s visit spoke to Susy Hodges.

Listen to the interview with Patrick Nicholson of Caritas Internationalis:  

“Shames us all”

Nicholson said the papal trip shone the spotlight on the refugee crisis and underlined that the international community really needs to address this issue.  He said Pope Francis’ trip to Lesbos shone the spotlight on some of the more troubling aspects of the recent deal between the EU and Turkey that calls for the deportations of refugees and migrants if their asylum claim is refused. In return for every Syrian deported back to Turkey, the EU will take in a Syrian living in a refugee camp inside Turkey. Nicholson said the papal trip “brought to the fore that we can no longer treat people like commodities to be traded between countries.”…. I think it shames us all, the way we treat ordinary people, men, women and children.”

Asked about the Pope’s decision to take back with him 12 Syrian refugees, Nicholson praised this gesture, describing it as “an extraordinary symbol” that he hopes will serve as a role model or message for other European countries that “they really have to do more to take (in) these people who are fleeing war, poverty and the worst abuses imaginable.” 








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