In Marseille, Pope Francis urges Europe to heed the plight of migrants

The Mediterranean, Pope said, was transforming from “the cradle of civilization” into a “graveyard of dignity.”

Tens of thousands of faithful were drawn on September 23 to a soccer stadium in the south of France, not for a match, but for a Mass presided over by Pope Francis, who was on the second day of a whirlwind trip to the port city of Marseille.

As he was driven to the stadium, Marseille’s famed Vélodrome, Francis waved from the popemobile to the crowds thronging a sunny avenue. French church authorities estimated the crowd in the stadium at 57,000 people. And when he arrived onstage, he greeted those in attendance: “Bonjour Marseille, Bonjour la France!” he said to loud cheers before leading a prayer in French.

“It gives us a great feeling of joy,” Jean-Fernand Leyouka mi Bambiri, 47, a hospital security guard in Marseille, said of the pope’s visit.

At a meeting earlier Saturday, the pope, who has focused much of his two-day trip on the plight of migrants looking for a better life in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, condemned the world’s indifference to the deaths of many of those who try to make that treacherous journey. More than Over 2,300 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from North and sub-Saharan Africa to reach Europe have been recorded dead or missing so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency.

The Mediterranean, Francis said, was transforming from “the cradle of civilization” into a “graveyard of dignity.”

Leyouka mi Bambiri, who attended the Mass with his wife and teenage son, said the pope’s urgent speeches on migration, in Marseille and elsewhere, resonated. “Many don’t want to talk about those issues,” he said near the stadium afterward as the crowd spilled out. “But it’s important for us as Christians — you have to help others.”

While the pope’s trip was not an official state visit, Francis did meet with President Emmanuel Macron on September 23 at the Palais du Pharo, a 19th-century palace overlooking Marseille’s old port. There, the two leaders attended the closing session of the Mediterranean Meetings, a weeklong gathering of bishops and other representatives, and then met privately for half an hour — their fourth one-on-one meeting since Macron was first elected in 2017.