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Pope Francis attends a ceremony at the Karatepe refugee camp, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos

Pope calls Europe's neglect of migrants 'the shipwreck of civilisation' during Lesbos visit

The pontiff said Europe was “torn by nationalist egoism”.

POPE FRANCIS TODAY returned to the island of Lesbos, the migration flashpoint he first visited in 2016, calling the neglect of migrants the “shipwreck of civilisation”.

The pope has long championed the cause of migrants and his visit comes a day after he delivered a stinging rebuke to Europe which he said was “torn by nationalist egoism”.

“In Europe there are those who persist in treating the problem as a matter that does not concern them,” the pope said as he spent some two hours at the Mavrovouni camp on Lesbos, where nearly 2,200 asylum-seekers live.

On the second day of his visit to Greece, he met dozens of child asylum-seekers and relatives standing behind metal barriers and stopped to embrace a boy called Mustafa.

“I am trying to help you,” Francis told one group through his interpreter.

People later gathered in a tent to sing songs and psalms to the pontiff, who listened to them, visibly moved.

“His visit is a blessing,” said Rosette Leo, a Congolese asylum-seeker at the site.

However, Menal Albilal, a Syrian mother with a two-month-old baby whose asylum claim was rejected after two years on the island, said refugees “want more than words, we need help”.

“The conditions here are not good for a baby,” she told AFP.

‘A grim cemetery’

Pope Francis warned that the Mediterranean “is becoming a grim cemetery without tombstones” and that “after all this time, we see that little in the world has changed with regard to the issue of migration”.

The root causes “should be confronted – not the poor people who pay the consequences and are even used for political propaganda”, he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1,559 people have died or gone missing attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing this year.

Several people have died on the Belarus-Poland border in recent weeks, caught between the two countries’ border guards. The European Union accuses Minsk of having “weaponised” migrants against the West.

And 27 people drowned in a single incident last month trying to cross to England. Britain and France have traded barbs over the increasing number of migrants attempting the deadly Channel crossing.

pope-francis-visits-to-greece Pope Francis at the Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos DPA / PA Images DPA / PA Images / PA Images


‘Terrible modern Odyssey’

The temporary Mavrovouni tent camp was hurriedly erected after the sprawling camp of Moria, Europe’s largest such site at the time, burned down last year.

Greek authorities blamed a group of young Afghans for the incident and security was substantially enhanced for the pontiff’s visit.

The pope’s trip to Lesbos was shorter than his last as he later held a mass for some 2,500 people at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall.

In Cyprus, which the pope visited before Greece this week, authorities said that 50 migrants would be relocated to Italy thanks to Francis.

He took 12 Syrian refugees with him during his last visit to Lesbos in 2016.

EU ‘torn by egoism’

At the start of his Athens visit on Saturday, Francis said that “today, and not only in Europe, we are witnessing a retreat from democracy”, warning against populism’s “easy answers”.

In 2016, Francis visited Moria with Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, and Archbishop Ieronymos II, head of the Church of Greece.

The Mavrovouni camp currently holds 2,193 people and has a capacity of 8,000, a facility official said this week.

Authorities insist asylum procedures and processing times are now faster.

With EU funds, Greece is building a series of “closed” facilities on Greek islands with barbed wire fencing, surveillance cameras, X-ray scanners and magnetic gates that are closed at night.

Three such camps have opened on the islands of Samos, Leros and Kos, with Lesbos and Chios to follow next year.

Once asylum-seekers are recognised as refugees, they are no longer eligible to remain in the camps, a fate shared with people whose requests for protection are rejected and who face deportation.

Many of these refugees are unable to find accommodation or work, another criticism that charities and aid agencies direct at the Greek state.

The groups have also raised concerns about the new camps, arguing that people’s movements should not be restricted as well as claiming Greek border officers have pushed back migrants.

Greece vehemently denies the claims, insisting its coastguard saves lives at sea.

© AFP 2021

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    Mute Bernard A Kavanagh
    Favourite Bernard A Kavanagh
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    Mar 14th 2022, 1:03 PM

    And this all happened under FG FF when in power for the last 99 years! They have morally destroyed this country. But the Irish have short memories and keep voting them back into POWER!

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    Mute Mike Dunne
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:32 PM

    @Bernard A Kavanagh: There isn’t much to choose from. Sinn Fein have been supporting the coalition since day one. All very depressing.

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    Mute Bernard A Kavanagh
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:02 PM

    @Mike Dunne: That’s a poor argument.

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    Mute Just Some Guy
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:47 PM

    @Bernard A Kavanagh:

    Fine Gael haven’t been in Government for 99 years. Fianna Fail bankrupted this country when we needed a bailout. Also these illegal adoptions happened when Fianna Fail were in charge. Society allowed this to happen

    Sinn Fein are angels are they? David Cullinane who shouted up the Ira when he got elected.

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    Mute Bernard A Kavanagh
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    Mar 14th 2022, 5:42 PM

    @Just Some Guy: I never said FG have been in power for 99 years. I said FG and FF have been in power for 99 years.

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    Mute David Dineen
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    Mar 14th 2022, 1:48 PM

    When i went to find my brother i discovered alot, so much so the church were taking me to court, the amount of illegal adoptions are huge, wait till they discover the thousands sent away…

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    Mute Aidan Bergin
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    Mar 14th 2022, 1:55 PM

    @David Dineen: taking you to court for what?

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    Mute John Long
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    Mar 14th 2022, 1:59 PM

    €3000 isn’t a fraction for these people deserve.

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    Mute Olive Whyte
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:06 PM

    Is there a few zeros missing on that figure??. €3,000 is an insult.

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    Mute Darren Byrne
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:13 PM

    @Olive Whyte: didn’t read the article then, no. Quelle surprise. The 3000 is to cover the cost of initial DNA tests and legal consultation, it’s not compensation.

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    Mute Olive Whyte
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:38 PM

    @Darren Byrne: did I mention the word compensation??? No need to be rude to a complete stranger.

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Mar 14th 2022, 4:34 PM

    @Olive Whyte: He is only being rude to someone who didn’t read the article but needed to do some virtue signaling. You assumed the €3000 was compensation hence the line about missing zeros.

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    Mute Jane Osman
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    Mar 14th 2022, 4:42 PM

    @Denis Ryan: No she didn’t, read it again (it’s very, very short)

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Mar 14th 2022, 4:46 PM

    @Jane Osman: very good Jane, I said she assumed and now she is backtracking at a rate of knots.

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    Mute joe oneill
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    Mar 14th 2022, 1:36 PM

    Magdalene laundries,mother and baby homes,illegal adoption’s….the lies and cover ups continue,the UN Commission
    On Civil Rights needs to come in and do a no holes barred investigation in order for folks to get the proper justice and compensation that they deserve.If people in authority, government don’t want to cooperate jail them.

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    Mute Stephen Carslake
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:01 PM

    It is very hard to believe that the people in ireland vote these politiicans in every 5 years or so to represent us the people and once they get in all they do is turn their backs on the very people who put them in power for at least four and a half yeats.
    Time to wake up and stop voting the same 2 parties in every year and this €3000 euro offer is for expenses not even for the suffering.
    The only ones suffering now is the voters just ask where is our government now ? ALL ON JUNKET TRIPS at our expense country is a 3rd world country again thanks to the 2 parties forever voted in.

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    Mute Aidan Dorney
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:14 PM

    @Stephen Carslake: I agree with you, Stephen. May I say Stephen manning from integrity Ireland has coined the perfect name for them. He calls them the diabolical’s

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    Mute Roger Bond
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    Mar 14th 2022, 7:12 PM

    @Stephen Carslake: If the other party is going to give out money for everything that happened many decades ago then we will be bankrupt again.
    People need to know that attitudes were different then in every country in the world.
    We are unique in always looking back and our compensation culture is unique too.

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    Mute John Kavanagh
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:25 PM

    I always thought knowing who you are is priceless.. but obviously it’s only worth 3k

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    Mute Jane Osman
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    Mar 14th 2022, 4:44 PM

    @John Kavanagh: Well said friend!

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    Mute Nichola Corcoran
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:30 PM

    Wow 3,000 euro compensation for being sold at birth. They deserve so much more, shame on this government if they think that is appropriate.

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    Mute Disco Inferno
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    Mar 14th 2022, 6:07 PM

    @Nichola Corcoran: it’s not compensation, read the article

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    Mute Marg FitzGerald
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    Mar 14th 2022, 7:07 PM

    @Nichola Corcoran: it’s not compensation

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    Mute Ciaran Dunne
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    Mar 14th 2022, 3:58 PM

    What about a criminal prosecution in every proven case of fraud against St Patrick’s Guild . Or is the €3000 hush money ?

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    Mute Aidan Dorney
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:32 PM

    3k is a joke & the state should be held to account 3k? Just dealt with a gentleman looking up his records for his wife for health reasons. If the entries were incorrect well they were up the river without a paddle to put it nicely. 3k does not cut it.

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    Mute Gerrard
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    Mar 14th 2022, 5:12 PM

    Give them all 1 million each sure we have loads of money to hand out

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    Mute Roger Bond
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    Mar 14th 2022, 7:05 PM

    Compensation should be sought from the families who forced these adoptions on the mother because the families were not brave enough to accept a child from an unmarried mother.

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    Mute Mike Dunne
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    Mar 14th 2022, 2:33 PM

    This sounds like a bad Irish joke, except it’s not funny for those directly involved.

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    Mute Ciaran Dunne
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    Mar 14th 2022, 8:30 PM

    God forgive the poor eejit that though this €3000 was an appeasement for their scandalous treatment by this government!

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