LESBOS, Greece (AP) — When Pope Francis visited the Greek island of Lesbos in 2016, he was so moved by the tales he heard from households fleeing battle in Iraq and Syria that he wept and introduced a dozen refugees house with him.
Talking to reporters on the way in which house that day, he held up a drawing handed to him by a baby from the island’s sprawling refugee camp.
“Have a look at this one,” he mentioned, revealing a hen neatly adorned in coloured pencil, the phrase “peace” scrolled in English beneath it. “That’s what kids need: Peace.”
Francis is returning to Lesbos this week for the primary time since that defining day of his papacy, making a repeat go to to the island the place tons of of 1000’s of refugees and migrants have handed by way of on their journey to Europe.
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However he’ll discover attitudes towards migrants right here have solely hardened within the intervening 5 years, as they’ve elsewhere in Europe, with tensions flaring on the border between European Union nation Poland and Belarus and extra lethal crossings — most just lately within the English Channel.
Francis will first cease in Cyprus, one other predominantly Orthodox Christian nation within the Mediterranean that can also be dealing with an increase in refugees so vital that the federal government is looking for to cease processing asylum claims.
As he did in Lesbos 5 years in the past, Francis has organized for round 50 would-be refugees in Cyprus to journey to Italy after his go to, Cypriot officers say. And Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni wouldn’t rule out that Lesbos-based migrants may also be transferred after the go to.
“They’re our brothers and sisters,” Francis mentioned in a video message to Greek and Cypriot trustworthy earlier than the journey. “What number of have misplaced their lives at sea! At present our sea, the Mediterranean, is a superb cemetery.”
The pontiff begins his five-day journey on Thursday in Cyprus earlier than heading to Greece on Saturday. He returns house on Monday.
Whereas Francis’ renewed messages of compassion and welcome for migrants isn’t fairly resonating in European capitals, they’re a welcome salvo for the migrants themselves.
“His presence right here will strengthen us, spiritually, and provides us hope, some consolation,” mentioned Christian Tango Muyaka, a 30-year-old asylum-seeker from Congo who is because of take part in a Sunday service with the pope at a brand new migrant camp on Lesbos.
“It offers us religion, it strengthens our religion,” he mentioned.
Muyaka was separated from his spouse and youngest daughter a 12 months in the past on the Turkish coast after they scrambled to board a ship sure for Greece. He has had no information of what occurred to them since.
The north coast of Lesbos, simply 10 kilometers (six miles) from Turkey, served as the principle touchdown level for boats crossing into Europe throughout the 2015-16 migration disaster.
Piles of discarded orange life vests coated seashores, native fishermen helped day by day rescue operations, and island residents took delight in establishing campaigns to supply tons of of refugees arriving day by day with meals and clothes.
Quick ahead 5 years, and the welcome mat is gone.
Migrants reaching the jap Greek islands at the moment are being held in detention camps, newly constructed and funded by the EU. Coast guard patrols are instructed to intercept dinghies and boats heading west and ship them again to Turkey.
READ MORE: Greek police start shifting asylum-seekers into new camp
The overcrowded camp on Lesbos that Francis was taken to in 2016 burnt to the bottom final 12 months throughout protests towards pandemic restrictions.
And alongside Greece’s land border with Turkey, a brand new metal wall and hi-tech sensor community have been put in to cease unlawful crossings.
Eva Cosse at Human Rights Watch mentioned Francis’ go to will function an pressing reminder of the human nature of the disaster.
“At a time when individuals are struggling and their rights are threatened, having the pope standing up for them and expressing these issues is extra necessary than ever,” she informed The Related Press. “For the reason that pope’s final go to, Greece continues to host giant numbers of asylum-seekers whereas failing to guard their rights.
“Hundreds looking for refuge in Greece are violently pushed again to Turkey. Migrant kids face homelessness and a scarcity of entry to well being care, training and meals. And nongovernmental teams face legislative restrictions and prison harassment by officers.”
Greek authorities deny allegations of abstract deportations. They argue that harder border policing is important to counter hostility by a number of EU neighbors accused of exploiting the disaster and to restrict arrival numbers to manageable ranges.
“(Francis’) message is that we’re one world, that we don’t have borders, that everyone is a baby of God. Look, that is the non secular viewpoint,” mentioned Dimitris Vafeas, the deputy director of Mavrovouni migrant camp on Lesbos the place the pope will go to.
“In sensible phrases, I believe Greece has delivered … so I believe (Francis) will see calm faces. I don’t dare say glad faces, however calm for positive.”
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Derek Gatopoulos reported from Athens. Nicole Winfield, in Rome, and Vangelis Papantonis, on Lesbos, contributed to this report.
