12 Syrians get gift of refuge from pope

He uses gesture to set an example for critical Europeans.

Pope Francis, observing Europe’s migrant crisis Saturday, takes 12 Muslim refuges, including six children, back to Rome with him.

— Pope Francis made an emotional visit to the heart of Europe’s migrant crisis Saturday and took 12 Muslim refugees from Syria, including six children, back to Rome with him aboard the papal plane.

The gesture underlined the pope’s pleas for sympathy for the refugees as European attitudes are hardening against them.

Flying with him to Rome were three families whose homes had been bombed in the Syrian war, the Vatican said in a statement as the pope departed the Greek island of Lesbos, where he had visited the Moria refugee camp.

“The pope has desired to make a gesture of welcome regarding refugees,” the statement said.

The announcement capped a brief trip by the pope to Greece, where thousands of migrants and refugees are stranded on the doorstep of the European Union and could face deportation.

“We have come to call the attention of the world to this grave humanitarian crisis and to plead for its resolution,” Francis said during the visit to the Moria camp, where leaders of Eastern Orthodox Christian churches joined him.

“As people of faith, we wish to join our voices to speak out on your behalf,” Francis said. “We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity.”

Francis told reporters on the plane ride home that the relocation of the refugees had involved planning and paperwork by the governments of the Vatican, Italy and Greece. In Rome, the Catholic charitable association Sant’Egidio will help care for the families and try to find them work.

Francis also showed reporters two drawings given to him by children in the Moria camp. One showed children drowning in the sea. The other showed the sun crying. “The children have these things in their minds, and it will take time before these memories go away,” the pope said.

Upon landing in Lesbos, Francis held a brief private meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras before traveling across the island to the detention center, where people are held as they await rulings on their asylum applications — or to be deported under a recent agreement struck between the European Union and Turkey to curb migration.

Since last summer, hundreds of thousands of migrants have poured into Lesbos after paying smugglers to make the short sea journey from Turkey. The procession toward Germany plunged the European Union into a political crisis and eventually led several countries to restrict or close their borders.

Critics say the deportation agreement has trampled on the civil rights of refugees.

FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / ASSOCIATED PRESS Pope Francis greets a group of Syrian refugees upon their landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport Saturday. He brought home 12 Syrian Muslims aboard his charter plane after an emotional visit to the hard-hit Greek island of Lesbos.