Pope Francis: solidarity for Lampedusa migrants

(Vatican Radio) In his homily at Monday morning’s mass in Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke about the Samaritan “who saw and was moved with compassion”, keeping his heart open to humanity and thus bringing himself closer to God.

The importance of truly “seeing” human tragedy, remaining compassionate and rejecting the “globalisation of indifference”, is a theme which Pope Francis has often picked up in relation to the plight of migrants across the world. Most recently, he called for solidarity towards migrants in southern Italy, in the wake of the tragic shipwreck which left hundreds dead when their boat sank last Thursday, just off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. The Italian coastguard continues to retrieve bodies in the sea around Lampedusa, with the official death toll at 194 as of Monday morning.

Barbara Molinario, who works in the UNCHR’s Italian headquarters in Rome, has been in Lampedusa since Thursday. She spoke to Linda Bordoni about the ongoing efforts to retrieve and identify bodies, and about the difficult living conditions of survivors.

“So far, 194 bodies have been recovered, of which 84 only [on Sunday], but we are expecting unfortunately that many more people will be recovered [on Monday], as the survivors have told us that the majority of people were travelling inside, in the hull of the boat, and could still be trapped inside.

As far as the reception conditions on the island are concerned, there are roughly 1000 people in [Lampedusa’s Centre for First Aid and Welcome] today, and the conditions are really not sustainable, because the Centre currently has 250 places only – this is following the fire in 2011 when some of the dormitories were burnt down, and have yet to be restructured. So you can imagine that with 250 places and 1000 people, most people not only do not get a bed, but are sleeping outside with no cover – it has been raining, so the conditions are really very bad.

We feel as UNHCR that this really needs to be dealt with in an ordinary way, and we cannot talk about an emergency, because it is now pretty much a stable phenomenon. In fact we have been asking throughout the years, since 2011, that this reception facility be restructured, because of course with 250 places only on the island, an emergency could be created, because [the number of people arriving on a single boat is often] larger than the capacity of the Centre.

[The islanders] are suffering together with the survivors for this loss, they participated in a ceremony that we were able to organise just 2 days ago, that was requested specifically by the survivors who needed to pray for their dead. And one of the other things we are trying to facilitate together with the Italian authority is that the victims of this shipwreck be identified. This is what the survivors are asking us, to be able to identify their friends and their relatives, in order to be able to inform the families – we have been receiving a lot of phone calls, asking us about their loved ones who were on the boat and haven’t called them yet.

Pope Francis: “Listen to what God is telling you”

(Vatican Radio) “Open up your heart and listen to what God is saying to you. Allow your life to “written” by God”. Just as the Good Samaritan did when he stopped to help the stranger, we must all listen to God’s voice and sometimes put our own projects on hold to do his will.

Speaking to those present for morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Monday, Pope Francis pointed out that it can happen that Christians, Catholics, priests. Bishops and even the Pope sometimes turn away from God!



Not to listen to his voice, not to take heed in our hearts of his proposal and his invitation– the Pope said – is a daily temptation. And he said there are many ways in which one can turn away from God, polite, sophisticated ways… And to better illustrate his message, Pope Francis recalled the parable recounted in the Gospel in which there is a half-dead man lying in the road. A priest walks by – a zealous priest wearing a cassock and on his way to say Mass. The priest looks at the man and says to himself “I will be late for Mass” and goes on his way. “He didn’t hear the voice of God” – Pope Francis pointed out.

Then a Levite passes by – the Pope continued – and perhaps he thinks “If I get involved and the man dies, then tomorrow I will have to go before the judge and give testimony…” so, the Pope continued “he too goes on his way. He too – Francis points out - “turns away from the voice of God”…

Only the Samaritan, a sinner, someone who habitually turns away from God had the capacity “to hear God and to understand his request”. Someone – the Pope observes – “who wasn’t used to participating in religious rites, who didn’t lead a “moral” life, who was theologically “wrong”, because – Pope Francis explained – Samaritans believed that God should be adored elsewhere, not where the Lord had said”. But “the Samaritan understood that God was calling him and he did not turn away. He went to the man, bound up his wounds, poured on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him”. He gave up his whole evening for him.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis said, the priest was on time for Mass and the faithful were happy; the Levite’s schedule was not upset…. And the Pope asked: “why did Jonah run away from God when the Lord asked him to go to Ninevah and he boarded a ship to Spain? Why did the priest turn away from God? Why did the Levite turn away from God? Because their hearts were closed, and when your heart is closed you cannot hear the voice of God. Instead the Samaritan - he said - “saw and was moved with compassion”: his heart was open, he was human, and humanity brought him close to God.

Those – Pope Francis said – who have a design for their lives, who want to map out their own stories – do not allow God to write their lives.

“I say to myself, and I say to you: do we let God write our lives? Or do we want to do the writing ourselves?” And he exhorted those listening “to be docile to the Word of God. To have the capacity to hear His voice and to listen to it.