“Let us find the courage to be ashamed in front of them, who are innocent and our future,” he said of the children in the camp. He also spoke of the ease with which fear of the other can spread through society and wondered why society focuses on the people who are the expression of the problem rather than its root causes. Pope Francis also criticized the idea of building a wall to keep people out, stating that fences and walls do not solve problems. “We have to bitterly admit that this country and others are in a difficult situation and there are those in Europe who insist to address these problems as issues that do not affect them,” he said. “We are talking about human lives,” he stressed and added that he did not see much change from his previous visit. He lamented that little had changed since 2016, when Lesvos was at the heart of a massive wave of migration to Europe and when Francis brought 12 Syrian Muslim refugees from the island back home with him aboard the papal plane. It was Francis’ second trip to Lesvos in five years. The situation refugees face in Europe, which he called a “horrendous modern Odyssey” is the focus of this trip. Pope Francis is being welcomed with a song to Mavrovouni camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. He gave a “thumbs up” after he was serenaded by African women singing a song of welcome. Without a mask, Pope Francis Francis took his time walking through the camp, patting children and babies on the head and posing for selfies.

Brutal heretic