There is a yawning gap between the irenic aspirations defended by the Pope and the painful day-to-day reality of European citizens who have to absorb the migratory flow.
Pope Francis has just completed a few days’ visit to Marseille for the third “Rencontres Méditerranéennes”. The aim of this mediatised visit was for the Pope to promote an unconditional welcome for migrants—a highly political message that was not always well received.
Pope Francis had announced his intentions ahead of his visit: he was coming “to Marseille, not to France.” It was a way for him to emphasise that he was not coming for a simple protocol visit to meet French Catholics and their leaders—in which case he would certainly have gone to Paris—but that he intended to place the Mediterranean, the site of the migratory battle in Europe, at the centre of his communication.
