At the heart of a three-day visit to Greece, an Orthodox country, the Pope made a stopover this Sunday in the Lesvos refugee camp where just over 2,000 asylum seekers currently live. After 2016, this is the Sovereign Pontiff’s second visit to this Greek island, a symbol of migratory flows, which notably housed the Moria camp – long the largest in Europe – destroyed by fire in September 2020.
with our special correspondent in Lesbos, Joel bronner
One of the reasons for this second visit of the Pope to Greece in five years seems to be to try to improve relations between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox clergy, two different families of the Christian religion. But with regard to its specific passage on the island of Lesbos which – like the Italian island of Lampedusa– has become a symbol of migratory flows to Europe, the stated objective is rather to send a political message to the European continent, ” torn up “, In his words,” by nationalist egoisms “. And this, as he has regretted this Saturday during a speech in Athens, instead of behaving like ” a motor of solidarity “.
Lesbos has changed
The Pope had already come to Lesbos in 2016 and Lesbos has changed, Europe has changed and migratory flows are also different. In 2015 and 2016, at the time of what has been called the European “migration crisis”, up to 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers could reach the island of Lesbos per day.
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Today, the strictly guarded Lesvos refugee camp has a total population of around 2,200. On the spot, the attitudes of solidarity at the beginning have largely given way to weariness, after the implementation of the European policy known as hotspots, who blocked migrants at their point of arrival and whose Moria has been a symbol. Moreover, in 2016, the Pope had passed both through the Moria camp and through the port of the capital Mytilene, while he would have to be content, this time, with an express passage through the new camp.
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Refugees’ expectations
This visit seems to take on a symbolic aspect above all, at a time when, in practice, Europe is closing in on itself. As far as Greece is concerned, the camps there are more and more closed and difficult to access, migrants are regularly criminalized, just like NGOs. While pushbacks are commonplace.
At mass time, in front of the small Catholic Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Inisse Kiakou is delighted with the imminent arrival of the Pope. In Lesbos for almost two years, the Congolese wants to see it as a sign of a better future, although her family’s asylum request has so far been rejected. ” We only have rejections; since 2020 that we have been here, we have only had rejections. The arrival of the Pope is a blessing for us. It is really a grace for me and for my family also because I am not alone, I am with my husband and my two children. “
A primarily symbolic visit?
After a year on the island, Christian Tango, also Congolese, is one of the two families chosen to speak directly with the Pope this Sunday. He who, on a daily basis, says he feels locked in the Lesbos camp, sees it as an honor and a responsibility. ” It is a miracle, as I believe in a miracle. It gives us hope, I think everything can change. We will plead to the Pope to convey the message to Europe to hear our cries, our distresses, our sufferings “. And this message, the 31-year-old man says he wants to send it on behalf of all asylum seekers in Greece, beyond the borders of Lesbos.
But the policies implemented at the door of Europe seem very far removed from the speeches of the Pope who calls for more solidarity. At a time when, for example, 24 aid workers are on trial to have come to the aid of asylum seekers and that solidarity seems considered a possible offense, the pope’s remarks during this visit are likely to appear more as wishful thinking than as a possible change in current policies.
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