Condemns Indifference And Politicization Of The Immigrant Crisis, Pope Francis: Please, Let's Stop It!

Pope Francis. (Wikimedia Commons/Paris Orlando)

JAKARTA - Pope Francis condemned the exploitation of migrants for political ends on Sunday, during a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, branding the global indifference to their plight as a "sunken civilization".

Pope Francis walks through Camp Mavrovouni, which is home to about 2,300 people, stopping to welcome dozens of refugees and high-five a young African.

He first visited the island, one of the main entry points for migrants, in 2016 and brought 12 Syrian refugees back to Italy with him. He regretted that there had been little change since then.

Meanwhile, the Mediterranean region, where thousands died trying to cross from North Africa to Europe, remains a "grim grave without a tombstone".

"Please, let's stop this civilization shipwreck!" Pope Francis said, as quoted by Reuters, Dec. 6.

In addition, Pope Francis denounced those who use the migration crisis for political ends.

"It is very easy to stir up public opinion by instilling fear in others," he said, adding that anti-immigrants "fail to speak with equal passion" about the exploitation of the poor, war, and the arms industry.

"It is the isolated causes that must be attacked, not the poor who suffer the consequences and even use them for political propaganda," Pope Francis continued.

The camp, set in this old army shooting range, consists of dozens of prefabricated structures, some similar to shipping containers and others, smaller ones made of plastic.

The spaces between the buildings are like the streets of a gloomy village where people live in limbo. Strollers and children's trishaws rest at the home of an Afghan couple.

Sitting in a chair under a tent with the sea behind him, Pope Francis listened to Christian Tango Mukaya, a 30-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has been in the camp with his two children for a year. He had not been in contact with any other wives and children since he arrived.

Mavrovouni, whose perimeter is surrounded by cement, barbed wire, and sea, replaced the infamous Moria camp that burned down last year. Pope Francis visited several families there at the end of his visit yesterday morning.

Departing from his prepared speech, Pope Francis said it was 'sad' to hear that some European leaders wanted to use a common fund to build walls and install barbed wire to keep immigrants out.

"We are in an era of walls and barbed wire," he critiques.

Separately, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has called on the European Union to jointly finance a border wall to stem the influx of migrants coming from the Middle East via Belarus to Poland.

Gloomy and gloomy as Mavrovouni, this is a marked improvement over Moria, who rights groups have criticized for her squalid and overcrowded conditions.

To note, Greece has long been the main entry point into the European Union for migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Hundreds of thousands of people arrived on the coast of Lesbos in 2015 after crossing by boat from Turkey.

Joshue, an 18-year-old refugee from Congo, was among those who welcomed Pope Francis' visit.

"It's not like hearing him from afar, he comes on the pitch to see how we live, to see how things are here, so it gives us hope and strength, knowing a leader like that thinks of us."