The historic visit of Pope Francis to the Italian island of Lampedusa has brought to light the pain and suffering of thousands of people who find themselves forced to abandon their homelands, pushed out by war and poverty.
Over the last few months, we have seen on the news the dramatic images of hundreds of people desperately seeking to escape from their countries and reach the European coast. They have arrived in small plastic boats, dinghies, or even swimming, suffering all kinds of abuse on the way. It’s difficult to calculate how many people are losing their lives in the mass grave of the Straits of Gibraltar, but we are seeing with our own eyes the cruelty of borders and how they kill.
The images of groups of people trying to get over the fences around Melilla have been especially embarrassing. The media has used expressions like “New Mass Assault on the Fence” and “Avalanche of people”, as if they were talking about an enemy invasion and they wanted to boost people’s fear about the supposed invaders.
The border has two six metre-high fences with another three-dimensional one in between them, stretching the 9km-perimeter of the border.
Pope Francis reminds us that we cannot turn our back on our reality or responsibilities. “Where is your sibling? Today no-one feels responsible about them. We have lost our sense of brotherly or sisterly love? The welfare culture encourages us to think about ourselves, become insensitive about the suffering of others, and live in a bubble, which is beautiful but meaningless. It makes us indifferent to others and, what’s more, it leads to the globalisation of indifference. We have got used to the suffering of others. It doesn’t concern us. It doesn’t interest us. It’s not our problem.”
He has also asked for forgiveness. “Forgive us for our indifference. Forgive those who get used to this situation and who have become obsessed with their own wellbeing – anaesthetising their hearts. And forgive those whose decisions on a world scale have created situations that create these dramas”.
History now judges thousands of citizens who remained quiet when faced with the horrendous crimes of Nazism. Today, we must remain quiet about the bloodletting on our borders, where men, women, and children are dying.
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