Pope rips treatment of migrants

Pope Francis ripped the treatment of migrants arriving in Europe as “disgusting, sinful and criminal” on Sunday.

The pope’s remark, which occurred during the canonization of a bishop known as “the father of migrants” at the Vatican, came days after Italy elected a right-wing government to power that rose in part on migration issues.

“Indeed, the situation of migrants is criminal,” the pope said, according to The Associated Press. 

“They are left to die in front of us, making the Mediterranean the largest cemetery in the world,” he continued. “The situation of migrants is disgusting, sinful, criminal. Not to open the doors to those who are in need. No, we exclude them, we send them away to lager, where they are exploited and sold as slaves.”

Pope Francis, who is the son of Italian immigrants, has prominently discussed migration issues during his papacy. 

On Sunday, he described how some migrants are killed while crossing the Mediterranean Sea or are returned to Libya and put in camps he likened to Nazi concentration camps, according to The Associated Press.

‘’Do we welcome them as brothers, or do we exploit them?” the pope said during the ceremony.

Giorgia Meloni, who appears poised to become Italy’s next prime minister, has called for a naval blockade to prevent boats of migrants from arriving from North African shores.

Meloni’s center-right coalition also includes Lega, an anti-immigrant party that won 9 percent of the vote in the recent national elections.

Francis’s comments on Sunday at the Vatican, which is surrounded by Italy, came as he canonized Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, a 19th-century bishop known for his work supporting migrant rights. The pope also canonized a 20th-century man who ministered to the sick in Argentina in the ceremony.

The pope told the thousands of attendees gathered that the two individuals “remind us of the importance of walking together,” The Associated Press reported.