RABAT, Morocco — Pope Francis called Saturday to mend the “great and deep wound” opened by the migration crisis, as he spoke during a visit to Morocco which has become the chief destination for sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to reach Europe.
“We do not want our response to be one of indifference and silence,” Francis said to about 80 migrants at a Catholic charity center in Rabat, the Moroccan capital.
Years after the explosion of the migration crisis destabilized Europe and provided fodder for hard-line politicians who surged to power across the continent, the issue seems to have faded and a consensus has emerged that migration needs to be checked and borders closed.
But Francis, who for years has been a lone voice on the migration issue, used his two-day stay in Rabat not only to continue to promote moderate Islam, but also to implore the more comfortable corners of the world to accept, protect and integrate migrants. He urged people to take concrete steps and “act prudently rather than remain silent.”
“Protection must first and foremost be ensured along migration routes, which, sadly, are often theaters of violence, exploitation and abuse of all kinds,” he said. And once migrants reach their destinations, they face unacceptable “forms of collective expulsion,” he added. That has been advocated in countries such as Italy and Hungary, where anti-immigrant leaders are in control.
At the same time, the pope urged migrants to learn the local languages and respect the laws and culture of their host countries.
Even before his departure for Morocco, Francis made his disgust with the current crackdown on migrants clear. In an interview with a Spanish journalist scheduled to air on Sunday, he expressed frustration with European governments refusing to offer havens to aid ships that have rescued migrants from the Mediterranean.
“Why do they do it?” the pope asked of the governments. “To let them drown?”
But the pope’s critics and even some supporters worry that his championing of refugees is weakened by his inconsistency when it comes to addressing the clerical sex abuse crisis within his own church.
On the eve of his visit to Morocco, Francis issued a new law for Vatican City — characterized by Vatican officials as a model for the wider Roman Catholic Church — that requires clerics and Vatican officials to report credible abuse allegations to Vatican prosecutors.
But abuse survivors and their advocates said the law was essentially meaningless outside of Vatican City, where there are hardly any children, and that it failed to address the fact that the church is incapable of policing itself.
The pope’s lack of meaningful and concrete reform to confront sex abuse, critics say, has led to the eroding of his moral authority, and the weakening of one of the last voices on the world stage speaking out in support of migrants.
Reverend Michael Czerny, an under secretary of the Vatican’s Migrants and Refugees Section, said that while the pope’s handling of the sex abuse crisis may have intensified criticism “among people less ready to follow his lead in the first place,” it “doesn’t take away from the message of assisting vulnerable people in society, like migrants and victims of human trafficking.”
The pope’s emphasis on the issue is critical, he said, because anti-migrant forces had “not won” the battle for public opinion.
Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, who is also the leader of the increasingly popular League party, rose to power on the strength of his opposition to migration. In office, he has prevented aid ships from docking in Italian ports, arguing that the ships encourage more illegal migration and benefit human traffickers.
But the reduction in the migrant flow is largely due to deals made between tribal leaders in Libya, who have in turn sealed off their southern border, kept migrants frequently in awful conditions and patrolled the North African country’s coast for migrant ships.
Because of that, tens of thousands of migrants, including many sub-Saharan Africans, have rerouted to Morocco, where they have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar for Spain. That is now the preferred entry point to Europe for illegal migrants, with 57,000 arriving last year, according to the European Union.
Those numbers have created now-predictable tensions and populist foment ahead of elections in Spain next month. The European Union has given Morocco $275 million to stanch the flow.
“There is a constant flow of people through Morocco, and large numbers,” said Sister Mary Donlon, the mother superior of an order of nuns working in Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria. She said there was “great tension” because Europe was increasingly closing its doors while more migrants from sub-Saharan Africa made their way to Morocco.
The pope is “probably the only one who is supporting them,” she said, and the crisis persists “even if people are not speaking about it.”
On Saturday, Francis did.
At the Hassan Tower, a 12th century uncompleted red sandstone minaret and mosque in the Moroccan capital on North Africa’s western Atlantic coast, Pope Francis arrived side by side with King Mohammed VI — the pope waving in a white popemobile, the king out of the retractable roof of a black antique Mercedes. A man dashed past the pope and within feet of the car carrying the king, where he was grabbed by security guards. Then the ceremony continued.
Greeted in pouring rain by soldiers uniformed in thick red cloth, drums, ululating spectators and cannon salutes, the two stressed the importance of interreligious dialogue. In recent trips to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the pope has sought to elevate moderate interlocutors of Islam at a time when Islamic extremism has taken a heavy toll on minority Christian communities.
Calling Morocco “a natural bridge between Africa and Europe,” the pope addressed a drenched crowd, some covering their traditional Fez hats with overturned chairs. As the Moroccan king, in a traditional hooded and striped yellow djellaba, sat beside him, Francis called for a respectful dialogue.
The pope traveled along streets lined with Moroccans, many waving their hats and cheering, to an institute built by the king for the training of imams.
Morocco has pursued what officials call an “Islam of the middle path doctrine,” which advocates tolerance and interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Analysts say that moderation is both the kingdom’s way to counter the spread of destabilizing extremism in a country where many have been tempted by the Islamic State, and to turn Morocco into a center for Islam in Africa.
In the center’s auditorium, Christian, Muslim and Jewish singers serenaded the pope and the king, seated in the front row, with a medley of traditional songs, accompanied by an orchestra. One Nigerian woman told the audience of Catholic prelates, Muslim imams and royals that she hoped the knowledge she gained at the institute would enable her to turn more people away from violent extremism at home.
But the Africans the pope met with in the Catholic charity Caritas center told reporters they had no intention of returning home. They had their eyes set on Europe. And they apparently had the pope behind them.
“We know that it is not easy — for those who arrive and for those who receive them,” Francis said, adding, “integrating requires us not to be conditioned by fear and ignorance.”