Vatican takes in 12 migrants as pope assails ‘indifference’
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Pope Francis on Friday denounced the “culture of indifference” that the West shows migrants as the Vatican confirmed that at least a dozen asylum-seekers would be transferred from Cyprus to Italy in a gesture of solidarity with European countries that have received a disproportionate share of would-be refugees.
The transfer, formally announced on the second day of Francis’ visit to Cyprus, came on the eve of his scheduled arrival in Greece, from where he brought a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees home with him aboard the papal plane in 2016.
The Vatican said the Romebased Sant’egidio Community, working with governments, had arranged to bring the asylum-seekers from Cyprus to Italy in the coming weeks. It said 12 people would be initially transferred. Earlier, the Cypriot Interior Ministry had thanked Francis and the Holy See for the initiative to relocate 50 people, saying it was a recognition of Cyprus’ inability to continue to absorb migrants and refugees.
The Vatican didn’t immediately respond when asked about the discrepancy, though presumably more could be relocated at a later date.
During a Friday evening prayer service with migrants in the Church of the Holy Cross in Nicosia, the Mediterranean island nation’s capital, he made it clear that countries had a moral obligation to accept those who flee war, hatred and oppression.
“He who comes asking for freedom, bread, help, fraternity and joy, who is fleeing hatred, finds himself in front of a hatred which is called barbed wire,” Francis said. “May the Lord awaken the conscience of all of us in front of all these things. We cannot be silent and look away at this culture of indifference.”
Francis referred to the problems Cyprus was undergoing, saying he recognized that governments can’t take in everyone and that “we have to understand the limits.”
Cyprus has seen such a spike in migrant and refugee arrivals this year — a 38 percent increase in the first 10 months compared with all of last year — that it asked the European Union’s executive commission to let it stop processing asylum claims.
It is currently processing more claims per capita than any other EU nation.
Francis is expected to echo the call for migrant welcome when he returns Sunday to Lesbos, Greece, to visit a new refugee camp.