Pope Francis on Sunday strongly defended migrants, calling their exclusion “disgraceful, hateful and sinful”, putting him on a collision course with Italy’s next right-wing government.
The pope’s comments came during a ceremony to beatify a 19th-century bishop known as the “Father of Emigrants”, as well as a canonization of a 20th-century man who provided spiritual support to patients in Argentina.
The Pope, who makes the issue of support for immigrants a top priority, presided over a mass with the participation of 50,000 worshipers in St. Peter’s Square. “The exclusion of immigrants is disgraceful,” the pontiff said. “It is in fact a criminal act. It makes them die before our eyes.”
“The Mediterranean today has become the largest cemetery in the world,” he added, referring to the thousands who drowned while trying to reach Europe. “Excluding immigrants is hateful, it’s a sin,” he said. “Not opening doors for those in need is a crime.”
Georgia Meloni is expected to become prime minister later this month at the head of a right-wing coalition that has vowed to crack down on immigration and tighten restrictions on Italy’s borders.
Meloni pledges to speed up repatriation of migrants and tighten asylum rules. It also called for the imposition of a naval blockade on North Africa to prevent migrants from sailing, in addition to its call to re-establish restrictions on the activities of rescue ships belonging to charitable organizations.
Without mentioning Italy, Pope Francis said some of the returned migrants were put in “concentration camps, exploited and treated as slaves”. He has previously indicated that this is happening in Libya.
