Pope to visit Greek island Lesbos amid refugee crisis

Pope Francis will next week make a brief trip to Lesbos, the Greek island on the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis, the Vatican confirmed on Thursday.

“Accepting the invitation from His Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and the President of the Greek Republic, His Holiness Francis will travel to Lesbos on April 16, 2016” where he “will meet with refugees,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Pope Francis, who has made the defence of the world’s downtrodden a cornerstone of his papacy, will visit the Aegean Sea island for a few hours to draw the international community’s attention to the suffering of asylum seekers, many of them on the run from a devastating war in Syria.

Greece’s islands are the point of first arrival in Europe for hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who make the perilous boat journey from Turkey.

The Pope, who will set off from Rome mid-morning and return at the end of the afternoon, will visit a refugee centre before making a stop at the port of Lesbos, Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi told the press.

Pope Francis in 2013 visited the Italy’s Lampedusa, where large numbers of migrants were arriving from Libya.