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Pope to pray for migrants in Lampedusa visit

Pope Francis will travel to the Italian island of Lampedusa next Monday, to pray for boat migrants who have died trying to make the crossing into Europe, the Vatican said in a statement on Monday.

Pope to pray for migrants in Lampedusa visit
Pope Francis. Gabriel Bouys/AFP

The pontiff "intends to pray for those who have lost their lives at sea, visit the survivors and refugees there…and appeal for these brothers and sisters in extreme need to be cared for," it said.

In mid-June, seven immigrants reportedly drowned during an attempt to cross to Italy by gripping on to a large tuna fishing cage being towed by a trawler.

Each year, thousands of illegal migrants attempt to cross the Mediterranean in often overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels in a bid to reach the European Union.

Almost eight thousands migrants landed on the Italian coast in the first six months of the year, almost twice the number that arrived in the same period in 2012.

A large part – over 3,600 of them – washed up on Lampedusa, the closest island to the coast of north Africa and a favoured destination for migrants heading to Europe illegally.

In June The Local spoke to experts about who bears responsibility for migrants arriving on Lampedusa.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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