The Pope urged to receive migrants and offered to mediate for the return of children to Ukraine

2023-04-30 22:20:00

“The Holy See is willing to mediate,” the pope said. (AFP photo)

Pope Francis made a new call this Sunday in favor of the reception of migrants fleeing war or poverty, at an open-air mass in Budapest, on his last day of his visit to Hungary, and later, on his trip Back in the Vatican, he offered the Church to mediate the return of Ukrainian children to their country and revealed the existence of “a mission” launched to seek peace in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

“Please, let’s open the doors!”urged the Pope, a well-known supporter of the reception of refugees, before a massive audience and in the presence of the Hungarian prime minister, the nationalist Viktor Orban, who defends a restrictive line of immigration.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, in 2013, Francis called for solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who are thrown into the Mediterranean in precarious boats to try to reach Europe, many of whom die in the attempt.

The situation reached its worst point in 2015, when more than 1 million migrants reached the countries of the European Union (EU). Italy, which is surrounded by the sea and within which the Vatican is located, is one of the countries that receives the most immigrants.

Hungary is a transit country for many migrants arriving on the shores of Greece, which is part of the EU, by sea from Turkey and then on to northern European countries, such as Germany.

“It is sad and it hurts to see closed doors: the closed doors of our selfishness towards those who walk with us every day (…), the closed doors of our indifference towards those who are plunged into suffering and poverty,” the Pope said. in the church.

Francis arrived aboard his “popemobile” at the central Kossuth Lajos square in the Hungarian capital. From the early hours of the morning, the faithful began to flock, under a spring sun, to the square, in the midst of a strong security device. There were about 50,000 people, the Vatican press service reported.

Francis maintained throughout his visit to Hungary a speech critical of the policies of Orban, who is a Protestant Christian and he justifies his opposition to the reception of migrants or refugees by the defense of “Christian civilization”.

On Saturday, in the second of his three days in Hungarythe Argentine pontiff had asked “to eradicate the evils of indifference” during a meeting with refugees, mostly Ukrainians.

The war in Ukraine, which borders Hungary, was one of the central themes of this second papal visit in less than two years to this Central European country.

In yet another call by the Pope to seek peace in Ukraine, he denounced the rise of nationalism and called for “recovering the European soul” in the face of “warlike infantilism.”

Since the start of the conflict, on February 24, 2022, more than two million Ukrainians have transited through Hungarian soil, although only 35,000 have applied for the “temporary protection” status implemented by the European Union (EU), according to data from the High Commissioner for the UN for Refugees (Acnur). Orban is close to Russia.

In a meeting that was not announced in the program of his visit, the Pope met yesterday afternoon with the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, a staunch opponent of Orban.

He also did it with the metropolitan Hilarion, the former head of foreign relations of the Orthodox Church who was fired for his reluctance regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Later on the flight back to the Vatican, Francis proposed that the Church mediate so that Ukrainian children taken by force to Russia can return to their country.

“The Holy See has acted as an intermediary in some prisoner exchange situations, and through the embassy it went well… I think this can also go well. It is important, the Holy See is willing to do it because it is fair, it is a fair thing and we must help. It is a problem of humanity rather than a problem of war booty or war transfer,” she stated. She insisted that “all human gestures help”so it should be done “everything humanly possible” for the children.

He then returned to the issue of migrants, noting that “peace is always made by opening channels, and peace can never be made by closing”, for which he urged the leadership to “open relations, channels of friendship”, although he accepted that “it’s not easy”.

He assessed that the issue of migrants “is a problem that Europe must take into its own hands, because there are five countries that suffer the most (Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Italy, Spain), because they are Mediterranean and most land there.”

“And if Europe does not take charge of this, of a fair distribution of immigrants, the problem will only be in these countries. I think that Europe must make people feel that it is the European Union even in the face of this.”, he remarked. And he linked the problem with the drop in the birth rate across the continent.

“There are countries like Italy and Spain that do not have … children. Last year I spoke about this at a family meeting and lately I have seen that the government and other governments are also talking about it. The average age in Italy is 46 years, in Spain it is even higher and there are small deserted towns, ”she warned.

For this reason, he considered that “a migration program, but well carried out with the model that some countries have had with migration -I am thinking, for example, of Sweden at the time of the Latin American dictatorships- can also help these countries that have a low birth rate”. . And he revealed that he spoke in Hungary with religious leaders about the chance to seek a mechanism to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, “because we are all interested in the path of peace.”

“I am willing. I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done. Also, there is now a quest going on, but it’s not public yet. Let’s see how… When it’s public, I’ll tell it, ”she said. ORn month after his hospitalization for bronchitis, Francisco looked fine.

The Argentine is the second Pope to visit Hungary, after John Paul II in 1991 and 1996. Despite his advanced age and pain in a knee that requires you to move with a cane or in a wheelchairis scheduled to visit Portugal in August and Marseille, France, in September, as well as Mongolia.