Pope Francis has condemned his handling of the recent Mediterranean boat disasters. “In these days, when serious tragedies in the Mediterranean are repeated, we are shocked by the silent massacres that we still face, helpless and stunned,” the Pope said in a letter to the Archbishop of the Sicilian city of Agrigento, Alessandro Damiano. .on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his visit to Lampedusa.
“The death of innocent people, especially children, in search of a more peaceful life, far from war and violence, is a painful and deafening cry that cannot leave us indifferent. It is the shame of a society that no longer knows how to cry and feel sorry for others,” the Pope said in his letter.
Exactly ten years ago, on July 8, 2013, Pope Francis visited the Italian island of Lampedusa and honored the numerous refugees who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. The Argentine had only a few months in office when he criticized the “globalization of indifference” in the extreme south of Europe. “We get used to the suffering of others, it doesn’t concern us, it doesn’t interest us, it’s none of our business”, Francis criticized at the time.