Pope criticises Europe’s actions against migrants as narrow self-interest

The head of the Roman Catholic church has visited a migrant camp in Greece and criticised the treatment of migrants on borders, British public broadcaster BBC reports.
On Sunday, December 5, Pope Francis was speaking at a temporary camp housing about 2,000 asylum-seekers, which replaced the overcrowded Moria camp that was destroyed in fires in 2020. The Pope first visited Lesbos in 2016, when it was a major entry point for people trying to reach Europe.
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«In Europe there are those who persist in treating the problem as a matter that does not concern them – this is tragic. (..) History teaches us that narrow self-interest and nationalism lead to disastrous consequences,» Pope Francis said.
Although the coronavirus pandemic had proven that major challenges had to be confronted together and there were some signs of this happening on climate change, there was little sign of such an approach to migration, the pontiff evaluated. «It is easy to influence public opinion by instilling fear of the other,» BBC quoted the head of the Roman Catholic church as saying. «The remote causes should be attacked, not the poor people who pay the consequences and are even used for political propaganda.»