2023-09-23 17:29:52
A short discussion, but anchored in current events. On the occasion of the Pope’s visit this Saturday, President Emmanuel Macron discussed with Francis migration issues but also the end of life, presenting him with the “calendar” and the “methodology” of the bill expected on this second subject “in the coming weeks”, declared the Élysée.
The interview, lasting around thirty minutes, was done face to face. Among the subjects discussed, the situation in Ukraine, Africa, Argentina (the pope’s country of origin), and even the environment, specifies the Élysée.
Another major subject: the migration question, which “was not the main subject of their exchanges”, but which greatly concerns the pope. “Two words resonated, fueling people’s fear: invasion and emergency. But those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they seek hospitality,” the Pope said earlier this Saturday, believing that this process must be managed “with European responsibility capable of facing objective difficulties.”
Strong words, in a context of growing hostility in Europe towards candidates for exile, and even as a new wave of arrivals on the Italian island of Lampedusa has tested the solidarity of the European Union. In response, France says it has “nothing to be ashamed of”, seeing itself as “a country of welcome and integration”, indicates the presidency.
“The Holy Father is very sensitive to what France can do,” said those around the Head of State. The Élysée also spoke of “a real joint desire to fight” against smugglers “and to provide human solutions”.
Brief discussions about the end of life
The end of life, a highly sensitive subject within the Church, and which must be the subject of a government bill, was “briefly” mentioned. However, there were no “substantive exchanges”: the head of state did not “go into detail about the content or even the balance of the text”, clarified the Élysée. The executive text is not, at this stage, “fully finalized”, but must be presented “in the coming weeks”.
The pope, hostile to any form of euthanasia, warned on Saturday morning in a speech in Marseille against “the falsely dignified perspective of a gentle death, in reality saltier than the waters of the sea”.
Other crisis situations were also mentioned, such as that of Nagorno-Karabakh. This Caucasian enclave, populated mainly by Armenians, but recognized as part of Azerbaijan, was this week the subject of a new deadly offensive launched by Baku, before the separatists gave up their arms.
At least 200 people, including ten civilians, were killed and 400 injured in the Azerbaijani military operation in the region, according to Armenian separatists.
Gift exchange
Since his arrival at the presidency in 2017, this is the fourth time that Emmanuel Macron has met Pope Francis, and the first outside the Vatican.
During this meeting, the president, who speaks to the sovereign pontiff on familiar terms, offered him an original edition of the essay “L’Été” by Albert Camus, “a text on the Mediterranean, European legends, with a strong message on hope”, according to the Élysée. He also gave her the book “Ex-voto sailors of Notre-Dame de la Garde” by Felix Reynaud (La Thune edition).
At the end of their interview, they were joined by Brigitte Macron, the wife of the Head of State.
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