Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

Pope promotes use of humanitari­an routes

Meets with refugees, aid groups at Vatican

- By Gianfranco Stara

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis met Saturday with thousands of refugees and charity groups hosting them in Italy as he sought to promote legal migration routes to Europe as an alternativ­e to smuggling operations that he said have turned the Mediterran­ean Sea into a “cemetery.”

Francis said “humanitari­an corridors,” which have operated in Italy since 2016, saved lives and helped newly arrived asylum-seekers get acclimated while church groups provided housing, education and work opportunit­ies.

“Humanitari­an corridors not only aim to bring refugees to Italy and other European countries, rescuing them from situations of uncertaint­y, danger and endless waiting; they also work toward integratio­n,” he said.

The Sant’egidio Catholic charity, the Federation of Evangelica­l Churches and the Waldensian Church led the ecumenical humanitari­an transfer initiative in Italy, which has brought more than 6,000 people to Europe, Francis was told.

Under the program, aid workers identify asylum candidates in refugee camps and process initial paperwork to bring them into Italy on humanitari­an grounds. Once they arrive, they are provided with aid to settle and apply for asylum.

Families from Syria, Afghanista­n, Rwanda and Ukraine were in the Vatican auditorium to meet with the pope.

“It was important for me to come here to show the world that humanitari­an corridors are one of the most beautiful things this world has to offer for people who deserve” safety and dignity, Oliver Chris I. Kabalisa, a 22-year-old from Rwanda, said. “Because as a refugee, we do not leave our country because we want to, but because we are constraine­d, we are forced to.”

Afghan refugee Nazani Shakvulla said women in her country were suffering, banned from education, work and travel, and need help from the Vatican and charity groups “to support the humanitari­an corridors and find a way to evacuate or find a way that girls in Afghanista­n get education.”

 ?? Gregorio Borgia
The Associated Press ?? Pope Francis meets with refugee families from Syria, Afghanista­n, Rwanda and Ukraine on Saturday at the Vatican. The pope spotlighte­d legal migration routes over smuggling.
Gregorio Borgia The Associated Press Pope Francis meets with refugee families from Syria, Afghanista­n, Rwanda and Ukraine on Saturday at the Vatican. The pope spotlighte­d legal migration routes over smuggling.

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