Pope Francis has denounced the tragedies of immigrants in the Mediterranean as the “shame of a society that no longer knows how to cry and empathize” with others.
“In these days we are witnessing repeated and serious tragedies in the Mediterranean, silent calamities shake us before which we remain powerless and astonished,” Francis lamented in a letter written on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his first voyage. as pontiff to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The Pope considered that “the death of innocent people, especially children, in search of a more peaceful existence, far from wars and violence, is a painful and deafening cry that cannot leave us indifferent”, adding that it is “a shame for a society that does not know how to cry or feel empathy for others”.
The letter, dated June 20 and addressed to the Archbishop of Agrigento (southern Italy), Alessandro Damiano, commemorates the tenth anniversary of the trip he made to Lampedusa in July 2013, the first of his pontificate at a time of serious migration crisis. .
It is a highly symbolic visit that the Pope, as he himself explains in the letter, wanted to make to show his “support and paternal closeness to those who, after painful adventures at sea”, reach the Italian coasts.
“Such inhuman misfortunes must absolutely move consciences. God still asks us: ‘Adam, where are you? Where is your brother?’ asks Francisco.
“Do we want to persevere in error, try to put ourselves in the place of the ‘Creator’, dominate to protect our own interests, break the constitutive harmony between Him and us?”, the Pope asks.
And he answers: “You have to change your attitude. The brother who knocks on the door is worthy of love, acceptance and all haste. He is a brother who, like us, was put on Earth to enjoy what exists and share it.” in communion”.
Francis maintained that “everyone is called to a renewed and deep sense of responsibility” and solidarity with the immigrant, including the Church.
“For this reason the Church, to be prophetic, must strive to put herself on the path of the abandoned, coming out of herself, applying the balm of brotherhood and charity to the bleeding wounds that mark the body, the very wounds of Christ. “, said.
The Argentine pontiff asked those in Lampedusa and Agrigento who remember his apostolic visit not to be “prisoners of fear and partial logic” and to come to the aid of migrants arriving by sea.
Source: TSF
