AP, Lesbos
Pope Francis traveled to Greece on Saturday for a brief but provocative visit to thank the Greek people for welcoming refugees and meet with migrants at a detention center as the European Union implements a controversial plan to deport them back to Turkey.
Greek state television ERT reported that Francis had offered to take 10 refugees — eight Syrians and two Afghans — back with him when he leaves. Asked about the report, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi told The Associated Press: “I have nothing to say at this time.”
Asked if he would have an update later, Lombardi said: “Each moment has its significance.”
The Vatican is already hosting two refugee families, so the gesture wouldn’t be unprecedented.
Francis’ Alitalia charter touched down at the airport on the Greek island of Lesbos shortly after 10 a.m., some 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met him on the tarmac, along with the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians and the archbishop of Athens, who is the head of the Church of Greece.