2023-07-08 12:48:00
July 8, 2023 / 5:48 a.m.
This July 8 marks 10 years since Pope Francis made the first trip of his pontificate to Lampedusa, the southern Italian island where numerous migrants have lost their lives in recent years.
Within the framework of this anniversary, the Holy Father has sent a letter to Mons. Alessandro Damiano, Archbishop of Agrigento (Italy), where he lamented “the silent massacres before which we still stand powerless and astonished”.
“The death of innocents, mainly children, in search of a more serene existence, far from wars and violence, is a painful and deafening cry that cannot leave us indifferent. It is the shame of a society that no longer knows how to cry and feel sorry for others.”warned the Holy Father.
He stressed that this visit to show his closeness and support “to those who landed on your shores” and assured that these “so inhumane” tragedies must absolutely shake our consciences”.
“We must change our attitude; the brother who knocks on the door is worthy of love, welcome and all attention. He is a brother who, like me, has been placed on earth to enjoy what exists there and share it in communion ”, he reiterated.
Therefore, he insisted thatwe are all called to a renewed and deep sense of responsibilityof solidarity and sharing”.
In addition, he stressed that the Church, to be truly prophetic, must strive “to put itself on the path of the forgotten, getting out of itself, relieving with the balm of brotherhood and charity the bleeding wounds of those who bear imprinted on their own body the same wounds of Christ”.
Along these lines, he invited the faithful “not to remain prisoners of fear or partisan logic, but to be Christians capable of fertilizing this island, located in the heart of the Mare Nostrum, with the spiritual wealth of the Gospel, so that it may shine again.” with its original beauty.
The coasts of Lampedusa are known for being one of the arrival points for numerous immigrants to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea, where many of them have been shipwrecked.
After a shipwreck in which hundreds of people lost their lives, Pope Francis visited this island on July 8, 2013.
On this historic trip, the Holy Father celebrated a Mass in which he used a pastoral crozier and a chalice from the parish of Lampedusa made with pieces of wood from the boats of immigrants who arrived on the island.
In his homily, Pope Francis called for solidarity and denounced “the globalization of indifference” and lamented that “today no one in the world feels responsible for this.”
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On the sixth anniversary of his visit to Lampedusa in 2019, the Pontiff celebrated a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican together with some bishops and volunteers who work in the Church in favor of migrants and refugees.
In his homily, Pope Francis recalled that migrants “are first of all human beings” and affirmed that “today they are the symbol of all those discarded by globalized society.”
There have been numerous occasions on which Pope Francis has denounced the situation of these migrants, going so far as to refer to the Mediterranean Sea as “the largest cemetery in Europe”.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is a Spanish journalist, correspondent for ACI Prensa in Rome and the Vatican, with four years of experience in religious information.
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