(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 23 - The stifled cry of our migrant
brothers and sisters is turning the Mediterranean from being
Mare Nostrum, 'our sea', into Mare Mortuum, a sea of death, Pope
Francis said on Saturday.
"There is a cry of pain that resonates more than any other, and
which is turning the Mare Nostrum into Mare Mortuum, the
Mediterranean from the cradle of civilisation to the grave of
dignity," the pope told his audience at the closing session of
the Mediterranean Meetings in Marseille.
"It is the stifled cry of our migrant brothers and sisters," he
added.
On Friday Pope Francis said saving lives at sea is a duty, as
migrants and refugees continue to lose their lives in the
Mediterranean while seeking safety and a better life in Europe.
"We can no longer watch the dramas of shipwrecks, due to hateful
trafficking and the fanaticism of indifference," said the pope
at a memorial to drowned migrants and sailors in Marseille on
the first day of his two-day visit to the port city.
"People who risk drowning when abandoned on the waves must be
rescued. It is a duty of humanity, it is a duty of
civilisation!" the Pope stressed.
He also thanked the organisations that "go to sea to save
migrants", saying that that these operations were "many times
prevented" and describing prevention of rescues as "gestures of
hate disguised as balance". (ANSA).