Pope Francis has called for more consideration to be given to preserving human dignity when accepting refugees. It shouldn’t just be about your own prosperity.
With regard to migration from Africa across the Mediterranean to Europe, Pope Francis warns against isolation and scaremongering. Regular entry options and a balanced reception of migrants in Europe must be guaranteed, said the pontiff on Saturday, the second day of his visit to Marseille in the south of France.
Migration is neither an invasion nor an emergency situation, but rather a fact of our time that must be addressed with European responsibility and cooperation with the countries of origin.
“The main criterion cannot be the preservation of one’s own prosperity”
“The mare nostrum cries out for justice, because on its banks there is abundance, consumption and waste on the one hand, and poverty and precarity on the other,” said Francis at the end of a youth meeting with participants from 29 Mediterranean countries. Of course, the difficulties in accepting migrants cannot be overlooked. “But the main criterion cannot be the preservation of one’s own prosperity, but rather the preservation of human dignity.”
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The future does not lie in isolation. “To say ‘enough’ means turning a blind eye; trying to ‘save yourself’ today will turn into a tragedy tomorrow,” warned the church leader. “Future generations will thank us if we succeeded in creating the conditions for inevitable integration, while they will blame us if we merely pursued sterile assimilation.” Integration is difficult, but a far-sighted preparation for the future, said Francis.
“Against the excesses of individualism, against egoism”
Almost 60,000 people streamed into the Vélodrome stadium in the afternoon, where the Pope held a mass on the second day of his visit to Marseille. He called on people to let their faith take hold of them and to be interested in the lives of those they pass by every day. “In this sense, our large cities and many European countries such as France, where different cultures and religions live together, represent a great challenge against the excesses of individualism, against the egoism and the closedness that generate loneliness and suffering.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who had previously met with the head of the Catholic Church for a discussion, also took part in the service. Migration should also be an important topic here. Along the Avenue du Prado, along which Francis drove the Popemobile towards the stadium, thousands of onlookers and believers who had come from all over France lined the side of the road.
