Pope’s powerful political message
Play
In an extraordinary gesture, at the end of Pope Francis’s emotional visit to the Greek island of Lesbos recently, he took three Syrian Muslim refugee families to Rome on board his plane.
Lesbos has faced the brunt of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from conflict in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia, who have poured into European countries in the past two years. This situation is considered the most disastrous migration crisis ever.
The Vatican has announced that the 12 Syrian refugees – six of them children – will be supported by the Holy See and cared for initially by Italy’s Catholic Sant’Egidio Community.
Though symbolic, this was a hugely significant humanitarian deed. Even more importantly, it sent a powerful political message urging the world to make the protection of human life a priority.
Pope Francis said migrants “have faces, names and individual stories” and deserve to have their most basic rights respected. “God will repay this generosity,” he promised.
Going to the root of the problem, Pope Francis called on all political leaders to ensure that everyone can remain in their homelands and enjoy the “right to live in peace and security”.
Clearly, the message was directed at regimes and alliances that are denying their people basic rights, forcibly displacing them and decimating them.
European Union (EU) nations have recently hardened their stance against providing unlimited sanctuary for these desperate refugees. The EU believes its countries cannot take on a disproportionate burden.
Some nations in the region and elsewhere are also bearing a heavy burden by admitting these refugees. But, sadly, the same cannot be said of the vast majority of countries, especially those who share a similar ethnicity or faith, which are standing idly by or, at most, engaging in useless rhetoric.
The Pope implored the global community to respond to the migrant crisis “in a way that is worthy of our common humanity”.
Indeed, the world, and that includes all of us, will be judged by the way we treat those who have come to our shores seeking refuge. And we will all be accountable for the way we respond.
Rueben Dudley
Petaling Jaya
