During Mass on the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 4, Pope Leo XIV condemned the brutal treatment of migrants and refugees and the loss of life at sea, urging the world to concretely and compassionately respond to the “enormity of suffering.”
The Pope first visited the local cemetery, which includes a section for “Muslims and Catholics, for young and old, black and white, all of them lost at sea as they searched for freedom.”
In his homily, Pope Leo reflected that today Lampedusa and its neighboring island of Linosa lie along a path as dangerous as the one that led from Jerusalem to Jericho in the Gospel parable of the Good Samaritan.
“Here,” he said, “you have seen not just one, but thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead.”
The Immigration and Refugee News Digest 