Pope Francis will travel to southern France on Friday for a two-day visit in the port city of Marseille, where he is expected to meet with President Emmanuel Macron and defend the plight of migrants attempting dangerous Mediterranean crossings to Europe.
Francis will attend the closing session of the Mediterranean Meetings, a weeklong gathering of about 70 bishops, youth activists and representatives of other religions from around the Mediterranean Sea, and he has stressed repeatedly that his trip is not an official state visit.
“I will go to Marseille, but not to France,” Francis said in August. “There is a problem that concerns me, which is the Mediterranean.” He added that “the exploitation of migrants is criminal.”
Still, hot on the heels of a state visit by King Charles III of Britain, who was headed to Bordeaux on Friday, Mr. Macron has seized the opportunity for a meeting with the pontiff.
Migration, Francis told thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square last week, “represents a challenge that is not easy, as we also see from the news in recent days, but which must be faced together.”
Ms. de Gaulmyn said that “politicians love to be seen with the pope,” especially Mr. Macron, a political disrupter who has long been fascinated with Francis’ willingness to shake things up in the church.
Meeting the pope, a moral authority on the issue of migration, “will also help him lean leftward a bit,” Ms. de Gaulmyn said of Mr. Macron, a centrist whose original pitch to voters was that he transcended traditional political divisions but who often tilts right.
Shortly after his arrival in Marseille on Friday afternoon, Francis is expected to visit the Notre-Dame de la Garde Basilica, which overlooks the city. He will lead a prayer there, followed by an interfaith moment of remembrance at a monument for sailors and migrants lost at sea.
Since 2014, over 28,000 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe have been recorded dead or missing, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency. There have been nearly 180,000 sea arrivals in 2023 so far, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Francis’ visit is important, Mr. Thomas said, because he is one of the few global leaders who has unequivocally defended the plight of migrants.
“He has always had a message of solidarity, of fraternity on this issue and on the Mediterranean tragedy,” he said. “We have to have the courage to say that we can’t let people drown at Europe’s doors.”
But immigration has become a political flashpoint for European governments, especially those facing strong far-right parties.
Gérald Darmanin, Mr. Macron’s interior minister, said this week that France would help manage the flow of migrants arriving in Lampedusa but would not take in any. He said many were from countries like Senegal and Gambia and had no legitimate claims to asylum.
“We need to fight illegal immigration in…
2023-09-22 01:53:17
Link from www.nytimes.com
rnrn