BY Bridget Orr | July 8 | 
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Pope Francis tells the world to support refugees
Pope Francis denounced indifference towards the exploitation of migrants during his half-day visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa today.
The Holy Father (above) visited the island between the coasts of Italy and Tunisia for a half-day visit where he sent a wreath out to sea to commemorate those who drowned reaching Europe.
The Pope then celebrated mass in the island’s sports fields and visited the parish of San Gerlando before returning to the Vatican.
Here, the Pope claimed that people have ‘forgotten how to cry’ for migrants lost at sea, before accusing smugglers of taking advantage of migrants’ desperation and poverty by transporting them to Italy on unsafe boats.
The Pope’s own ancestors migrated from Italy to Argentina, and he said his heart was with migrants including the boatload of Eritreans who landed during his visit.
The visit to Lampedusa was the Pope’s first pastoral visit outside of Rome following his coronation, and he was greeted with Vatican flags and banners stating ‘You’re one of us’, hanging from tower blocks.
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