RABAT (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Saturday the plight of migrants was “a wound that cries out to heaven” and could never be healed by physical barriers.

Francis, starting a two-day visit to Morocco, also backed Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s efforts to spread a form of Islam that promotes inter-religious dialogue and rejects violence in God’s name.

In recent months, migration has again risen to the fore of national political debates in a number of North African and European countries and the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to fulfill his campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico and on Friday threatened to close the border next week if Mexico did not stop immigrants reaching the United States.

“The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families,” Francis said at the welcoming ceremony.

“We know too that the consolidation of true peace comes through the pursuit of social justice, which is indispensable for correcting the economic imbalances and political unrest that have always had a major role in generating conflicts and threatening the whole of humanity,” he said.

Morocco has become a key departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe after crackdowns that closed or limited routes elsewhere. Italy’s anti-immigrant interior minister has closed ports to rescue ships run by charity groups.

Francis, who has made defense of migrants and refugees a key part of his preaching, said he was concerned about their “frequently grim fate” and receiving countries must acknowledge that migrants were forced to leave their homes because of poverty and political upheaval.

From the airport to the city center, Francis, 82, was driven in a white popemobile on a drizzly day as the 55-year-old king rode beside him standing up in a separate vehicle, a vintage black 1969 open-top Mercedes 600 Pullman.

In the afternoon, the pope spoke again of migration during a visit to a Church-run shelter. He called migration “a great and deep wound that continues to afflict our world at the beginning of this 21st century. A wound that cries out to heaven.”

He said migrants and refugees had rights and dignity “independent of their legal status” and that host communities should reject “all forms of discrimination and xenophobia”.

Francis and the king visited an institute the monarch founded to train imams and male and female preachers of Islam.

Slideshow (22 Images)

Morocco, which is almost entirely Muslim, has promoted itself as an oasis of religious tolerance in a region torn by militancy. It has offered training to Muslim preachers from Africa and Europe on what it describes as moderate Islam.

Francis, making the first papal visit to Morocco in 34 years, praised the monarch for providing “sound training to combat all forms of extremism, which so often lead to violence and terrorism, and which, in any event, constitute an offense against religion and against God himself”. </s> POPE Francis had a security scare today when a man sprinted towards the car he was in with the King of Morocco.

The man appears to be holding an envelope as he ran towards the cars holding King Mohammed VI and the pope in Morocco. Security agents tackled the man as he belted towards the train of cars driving through the streets of Rabat. The cars continued on their journey to the Hassan Tower complex for a formal welcome ceremony. It is unclear what happened to the man after he was tackled, however the King and the Pope did not appear to have noticed the attempted intrusion.

“The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers” The Pontif is in Morocco for two days, with the visit aimed at boosting Christian-Muslim ties. During the visit today, Pope Francis said the plight of migrants was "a wound that cries out to heaven" and could never be healed by physical barriers. Francis also backed Moroccan King Mohammed VI's efforts to spread a form of Islam that promotes inter-religious dialogue and rejects violence in God's name.

In recent months, migration has again risen to the fore of national political debates in a number of North African and European countries and the United States. "The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families," Francis said at the welcoming ceremony. "We know too that the consolidation of true peace comes through the pursuit of social justice, which is indispensable for correcting the economic imbalances and political unrest that have always had a major role in generating conflicts and threatening the whole of humanity," he added.

Morocco has become a key departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe after crackdowns that closed or limited routes elsewhere. Francis, who has made defence of migrants and refugees a key part of his preaching, said he was concerned about their "frequently grim fate" and receiving countries must acknowledge that migrants were forced to leave their homes because of poverty and political upheaval. Francis and the king visited an institute the monarch founded to train imams and male and female preachers of Islam. </s> Pope Francis has slammed Donald Trump's plan to build a wall on the Mexican border, saying migration will 'never be resolved by raising barriers'.

The 82-year-old made the comments as he arrived for the start of a two-day visit to Morocco today, aimed at showing solidarity with Morocco's growing migrant community.

At a welcome ceremony in the capital of Rabat today, the Pope said that a wall would only stir up 'fear' and deny help to those who genuinely need it.

'The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families,' he said.

It comes as US President Donald Trump vows to fulfil his campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

And on Friday threatened to close the border next week if Mexico did not stop immigrants reaching the United States.

The Pope continued: 'We know too that the consolidation of true peace comes through the pursuit of social justice, which is indispensable for correcting the economic imbalances and political unrest that have always had a major role in generating conflicts and threatening the whole of humanity.'

Francis was joined at the welcome ceremony by Moroccan King Mohammed VI, who has been working to spread a moderate form of Islam that promotes inter-religious dialogue and rejects any form of terrorism or violence in God's name.

In recent months, migration has again risen to the fore of national political debates in a number of North African and European countries and the United States.

Morocco has become a key departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe after crackdowns that closed or limited routes elsewhere. Italy's anti-immigrant interior minister has closed ports to rescue ships run by charity groups.

Francis, who has made defence of migrants and refugees a key part of his preaching, said he was concerned about their 'frequently grim fate' and receiving countries must acknowledge that migrants are forced to leave their homes because of poverty and political upheaval.

From the airport to the city centre, Francis, 82, was driven in a white popemobile on a drizzly day as the 55-year-old king rode beside him standing in a separate vehicle, a vintage black 1969 open-top Mercedes 600 Pullman.

At one point, a man rushed towards the king's car but was stopped and detained by guards as the motorcade continued along the street lined with bystanders. Police said he was a 17-year-old Moroccan who wanted to seek help from the king for his sick parents.

After the arrival ceremony Francis and the king visited an institute the monarch founded in 2015 for the training of imams and male and female preachers of Islam.

Morocco, which is nearly 100 percent Muslim, has marketed itself as an oasis of religious tolerance in a region torn by militancy. It has offered training to Muslim preachers from Africa and Europe on what it describes as moderate Islam.

Francis, making the first papal visit to Morocco in 34 years, praised the monarch for providing 'sound training to combat all forms of extremism, which so often lead to violence and terrorism, and which, in any event, constitute an offence against religion and against God himself'.

The king said learning was the only way to combat religious extremism. 'To tackle radicalism, the solution is neither military no financial; that solution has but one name: education,' the king said. 'What all terrorists have in common is not religion, but rather ignorance of religion.' </s> Members of the clergy watch as Pope Francis and King Mohammed VI of Morocco visit the Hassan Tower esplanade in Rabat, Morocco, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

RABAT — Pope Francis said on Saturday that problems of migration would never be resolved by physical barriers, but instead required social justice and correcting the world's economic imbalances.

Francis, starting a two-day visit to Morocco, also backed Moroccan King Mohammed VI's efforts to spread a moderate form of Islam that promotes inter-religious dialogue and rejects any form of terrorism or violence in God's name.

In recent months, migration has again risen to the fore of national political debates in a number of north African and European countries and the United States.

US President Donald Trump, has vowed to fulfil his campaign pledge to build a wall along the border with Mexico and on Friday threatened to close the border next week if Mexico did not stop immigrants reaching the United States.

"The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families," Francis said at the welcoming ceremony.

"We know too that the consolidation of true peace comes through the pursuit of social justice, which is indispensable for correcting the economic imbalances and political unrest that have always had a major role in generating conflicts and threatening the whole of humanity," he said.

Morocco has become a key departure point for African migrants trying to reach Europe after crackdowns that closed or limited routes elsewhere. Italy's anti-immigrant interior minister has closed ports to rescue ships run by charity groups.

Francis, who has made defence of migrants and refugees a key part of his preaching, said he was concerned about their "frequently grim fate" and receiving countries must acknowledge that migrants are forced to leave their homes because of poverty and political upheaval.

From the airport to the city centre, Francis, 82, was driven in a white popemobile on a drizzly day as the 55-year-old king rode beside him standing in a separate vehicle, a vintage black 1969 open-top Mercedes 600 Pullman. At one point, a man rushed towards the king's car but was stopped by guards as the motorcade continued along the street lined with bystanders.

After the arrival ceremony Francis and the king were visiting an institute the monarch founded in 2015 for the training of imams and male and female preachers of Islam

Morocco, which is nearly 100 per cent Muslim, has marketed itself as an oasis of religious tolerance in a region torn by militancy. It has offered training to Muslim preachers from Africa and Europe on what it describes as moderate Islam.

Francis, making the first papal visit to Morocco in 34 years, praised the monarch for providing "sound training to combat all forms of extremism, which so often lead to violence and terrorism, and which, in any event, constitute an offence against religion and against God himself".

The king said learning was the only way to combat religious extremism. "To tackle radicalism, the solution is neither military nor financial; that solution has but one name: education," the king said. "What all terrorists have in common is not religion, but rather ignorance of religion." </s> (RABAT, Morocco) — Pope Francis praised Morocco as a model of religious moderation and migrant welcome as he kicked off a trip to the kingdom Saturday, warning that walls and fear-mongering won’t stop people from exercising their legitimate right to seek a better life elsewhere.

King Mohammed VI welcomed Francis as he arrived during an unusual rainstorm and began a 27-hour visit aimed at boosting Christian-Muslim ties and showing solidarity with Morocco’s ever-growing migrant community.

Morocco last year became the main destination for sub-Saharan African migrants seeking to reach Europe via Spain. The influx has strained the kingdom’s resources and fueled anti-migrant sentiment in Spain ahead of its April 28 general election.

After an airport greeting, the two leaders then took separate vehicles — Francis in his popemobile and the king in a convertible Mercedes — and paraded in tandem into town for a formal welcome ceremony at the complex where two of Morocco’s past monarchs are buried. Women ululated as Francis and the king walked along the promenade of the Hassan Tower complex under umbrellas.

Francis told the king that he hoped Morocco would continue to be a model of humanity, welcome and protection for migrants.

“The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families,” Francis said.

Rather, he called for a change of attitude toward migrants that respects them as people, worthy of dignity and rights, and not just statistics. He said world leaders must address the economic imbalances and unrest on Earth that fuel conflicts and migration flows.

“Today’s grave migration crisis represents an urgent summons for concrete actions aimed at eliminating the causes that force many people to leave country and family behind, often only to find themselves marginalized and rejected,” he said.

It’s a message that Francis is expected to repeat later in the day when he meets migrants at a center run by the Catholic Church’s Caritas charity. Francis has made the plight of refugees a hallmark of his papacy, and has used many of his foreign visits to insist on the need to welcome them, protect them and integrate them into society.

Spain became the leading migrant entry route into Europe last year with over 57,000 unauthorized arrivals, according to the European Union. Morocco became the main departure point for migrants in smugglers’ unseaworthy boats after Italy essentially closed its borders to migrants leaving Libya.

Around 2,300 people died crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year and over 300 have already died this year on the dangerous journey, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Francis opened his remarks to the king by praising Morocco’s tradition of interfaith coexistence and its efforts to promote a moderate form of Islam.

Morocco, a Sunni Muslim kingdom of 36 million, reformed its religious policies and education to limit the spread of fundamentalism in 2004, following terrorist bombings in Casablanca in 2003 that killed 43 people.

Key to that effort has been the Mohammed VI Institute, a school of learning for imams that teaches a moderate Islam and exports it via preachers to Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Francis was visiting the institute later Saturday.

Francis praised the school, saying it “seeks to provide effective and sound training to combat all forms of extremism, which so often lead to violence and terrorism, and which in any event, constitute an offense against religion and against God himself.”

The king said education was the key to fighting radicalism — not military crackdowns.

“What all terrorists have in common is not religion, but rather ignorance of religion,” he said.

The trip follows Francis’ February visit to the United Arab Emirates, where the pope and the imam of Cairo’s Al Azhar, the seat of Sunni learning, signed a landmark joint statement establishing the relationship between Catholics and Muslims as brothers, with a common mission to promote peace.

The “Human Fraternity” document outlines a shared set of values and principles common to Christians and Muslims, focusing on the dignity of every person and a rejection of violence committed in God’s name.

Muslims, Christians and Jews have long lived peacefully in Morocco, even though Catholics are a tiny minority of about 23,000.

Francis will minister to them on Sunday when he celebrates Mass in Rabat’s sports stadium, before returning to Rome. </s> ROME, April 22 (Reuters) – Pope Francis urged governments on Saturday to get migrants and refugees out of holding centers, saying many had become “concentration camps.”

During a visit to a Rome basilica, where he met migrants, Francis told of his visit to a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year.

There he met a Muslim refugee from the Middle East who told him how “terrorists came to our country.” Islamists had slit the throat of the man’s Christian wife because she refused to throw her crucifix the ground.

“I don’t know if he managed to leave that concentration camp, because refugee camps, many of them, are of concentration (type) because of the great number of people left there inside them,” the pope said.

WATCH: Two dead in fire at Lesbos migrant camp in Greece



Francis praised countries helping refugees and thanked them for “bearing this extra burden, because it seems that international accords are more important than human rights.”

He did not elaborate but appeared to be referring to agreements that keep migrants from crossing borders.

In February, the European Union pledged to finance migrant camps in Libya as part of a wider European Union drive to stem immigration from Africa.

Humanitarian groups have criticized efforts to stop migrants in Libya, where – according to a UN report last December – they suffer arbitrary detention, forced labor, rape and torture.

Last year the EU and Turkey reached a deal to send back irregular migrants from the Greek Aegean islands to Turkey in exchange for political and financial rewards for Ankara. The agreement was criticized by rights groups.

The pope urged people in northern Italy, home to an anti-immigrant party, to take more migrants, hoping that the generosity of southern Italy could “infect the north a bit.”

READ MORE: Woman arrested for trying to smuggle migrant into Spain in suitcase

Noting that Italy had one of the world’s lowest birth rates, he said: “If we also close the door to migrants, this is called suicide.”

The basilica of St Bartholomew is a shine to Christians killed for their faith in the 20th and 21st century.

It contains a prayer book used by Father Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old French priest killed by Islamist militants who stormed into a church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray last year, forced Hamel to his knees, and slit his throat while they chanted in Arabic. His sister Roselyne attended the service. </s> Visiting a country used as a launch point for Africans and others trying to reach Europe, Pope Francis took aim Saturday at the world’s hardening anti-migrant sentiments and said problems could never be solved by “raising barriers” or “fomenting fear of others.”

Morocco has a minuscule Roman Catholic population, but the North African country — separated from Spain by a mere eight-mile wide strip of water — served as a fitting stage for Francis’s emphasis on migration.

For Francis, it has become a personal priority that has gained more urgency amid shut-the-door political movements in the United States and across Europe.

Francis also used the visit to highlight Morocco as a moderate example of Islam, and made a case for Christian-Muslim cooperation just two weeks after hate-fueled mosque shootings in New Zealand that claimed 50 lives.

Francis delivered the last of his two speeches Saturday at a Catholic charity that aids migrants, and he met with several from various African nations who typified some of the region’s mass migration trends: trying to make it to Europe and waiting for their chance. The migrants at the charity included five young children, who danced for Francis in a short performance.

“Every person has the right to the future,” Francis said, at one point looking at those children.

The pontiff, entering the seventh year of his papacy, has become an outlying voice advocating that migrants be welcomed with open arms — a stance that is rare now among political leaders across the West.

But the message was particularly resonant in Morocco, which last year became the primary passageway for migrants trying to reach Europe after the European Union and the hard-line Italian government worked to close off other routes across the Mediterranean.

Moroccan officials have indicated that smuggling networks have shifted, too.

[The loudest critic of Italy’s new anti-migrant policy? The Catholic Church.]

Migration numbers to Europe are down drastically from the peak in 2015. But individual countries still feel pressure. Morocco has faced criticism from humanitarian groups for allegedly rounding up undocumented migrants and transferring them to remote parts of the country.

Spain, meantime, has faced its own dilemmas: Anti-migration sentiment is on the rise ahead of April 28 general elections. And authorities in Barcelona in January prohibited a humanitarian ship from leaving port for a migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean.

Francis, in a recently conducted interview with a Spanish journalist, called it an “injustice” that the Open Arms boat had been prevented from operation. Other governments across Europe have taken steps of their own to curtail the work of NGO rescue vessels.

“Why do they do it?” Francis asked. “To drown them?”

Francis has repeatedly placed migration at the center of his papacy. In 2016, after a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, he ushered 12 Syrian refugees back to Rome aboard the papal plane.

But his remarks Saturday took a broader aim, as Francis described his philosophies on migrants: how they can be exploited; how they should be encouraged to learn the local language; how migrants can only integrate with the absence of “fear and ignorance.”

“We know that it is not easy — for those who arrive and for those who receive them,” Francis said.

The 27-hour trip is Francis’s latest outreach to the Muslim world, following visits to Egypt in 2017 and the United Arab Emirates last month.

Francis described Morocco as a “natural bridge between Africa and Europe,” and he was greeted at the airport by King Mohammed VI. The two leaders took separate vehicles — the popemobile and a Mercedes limousine — to a never-completed 12th century mosque, where Francis spoke about improving “mutual understanding” between Christians and Muslims.

“It is likewise essential that fanaticism and extremism be countered by solidarity on the part of all believers,” said the pope, who later in the day visited an institute that trains imams and also offers programs for women.

In an joint declaration, Francis and King Mohammed VI made an appeal for another area that has been a hotbed of tensions, calling on Jerusalem to be preserved as a “symbol of peaceful coexistence.”

The comments echoed previous statements from the Vatican, which has long advocated for a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinian territories. But it comes after recent tensions between Jews and Muslims over a holy site in the city.

Francis and the Moroccan king described Jerusalem as a place where “mutual respect and dialogue can be cultivated” among Christians, Muslims and Jews.

“It is our hope, therefore, that in the Holy City, full freedom of access to the followers of the three monotheistic religions and their right to worship will be guaranteed,” the short declaration said.

In 2016, Francis washed the feet of Muslim migrants

How the pope is taking the lead against anti-migrant populism

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news </s> ROME (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday (April 22) described some of Europe's refugee centres as "concentration camps", as he paid tribute to an unknown Christian woman slain for her faith in front of her Muslim husband.

"These refugee camps - so many are concentration camps, crowded with people... because international accords seem more important than human rights," Francis said in impromptu remarks at a ceremony in memory of modern-day Christian martyrs.

Departing from his prepared script and appearing unusually emotional as he spoke, the 80-year-old pontiff said he wanted the woman to be remembered along with all the other martyrs commemorated in Rome's Basilica of St Bartholomew.

He revealed that he had met the woman's husband and their three children during his visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year.

"I do not know what happened to him, if he managed to get out of his concentration camp, and get to somewhere else" Francis said.

"He looked at me and said 'Father, I am a Muslim and my wife was a Christian. In our country we were terrorised... they saw her crucifix and they asked her to throw it away.

"When she refused they cut her throat in front of my eyes. We loved each other so much."

Francis did not reveal the man's nationality but most of the migrants in Lesbos at the time of his visit were refugees from the conflict in Syria and he returned to Rome with three families who had fled the conflict there.

They have since begun new lives in Rome and the pope met Saturday with other refugees brought to Europe by legal routes under the auspices of the Sant'Egidio community.

He told them all that Europe needed to be infected by the generous spirit towards migrants that has been shown by the people of Lesbos and the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Sicily.

"We live in a civilisation that is not having children, but also closes its door to migrants: this is called suicide," he said.

"Let us think about the cruelty afflicting so many people, about the exploitation of those arriving on boats.

"Italy and Greece are providing a welcome but then international agreements mean they cannot move on."

Francis also upbraided the growing number of Italian politicians claiming the country cannot cope with an influx which has seen over half a million migrants arrive on its territory in the last three years.

"If every municipality in Italy took in just two migrants there would be a place for everyone," he said.

Saturday's service at the Basilica located on an island in the Tiber river that separates most of Rome from the Vatican, was also addressed movingly by Roselyne Hamel.

She is the sister of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest murdered by Islamic militants last year as he was celebrating mass in his church in Normandy in northern France.

"At his age, Jacques was frail but he was strong in his faith in Christ, strong in his love for the Gospel," Roselyne Hamel said.

Describing her sibling as "a universal brother," she said she was certain his love for humanity would even have extended to his killers.

Other speakers included Francisco Hernandez, a friend of William Quijano, an organiser of "Schools for Peace" in El Salvador and a victim of gang violence in 2009, and Karl Schneider, son of Paul Schneider, a protestant pastor who died in the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald.

The Basilica where Saturday's service took place is home to a large collection of relics of Christian martyrs across the ages, including recently added momentoes of Schneider, Quijano and Hamel. </s> (VATICAN CITY) — On Christianity’s most joyful day, Pope Francis called for peace in a world marked by war and conflict, “beginning with the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria” and extending to Israel, where 15 Palestinians were killed on the Israeli-Gaza border two days before Easter Sunday.

Francis reflected on the power of Christianity’s core belief — that Jesus rose from the dead following crucifixion — in his formal “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message delivered from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to a packed square of some 80,000 faithful below.

The pontiff said the message of the resurrection offers hope in a world “marked by so many acts of injustice and violence,” including parts of Africa affected by “hunger, endemic conflicts and terrorism.”

“It bears fruits of hope and dignity where there are deprivation and exclusion, hunger and unemployment; where there are migrants and refugees, so often rejected by today’s culture of waste, and victims of the drug trade, human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery,” the pope said.

Francis called for a “swift end” to the seven years of carnage in Syria, demanding that aid be delivered to the war-torn country’s needy and calling for “fitting conditions for the returned and the displaced.”

The pope also urged reconciliation in Israel, a place “experiencing in these days the wounds of ongoing conflict that do not spare the defenseless.” His remarks followed the Friday deaths of Palestinian protesters who charged toward Gaza’s border with Israel, the area’s deadliest violence in four years.

Turning to Asia, Francis expressed hope that talks underway could bring peace to the Korean peninsula, urging “those who are directly responsible act with wisdom and discernment to promote the good of the Korean people.”

The pope also urged more steps to bring harmony to divided Ukraine, called for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and appealed for the world not to forget victims of conflict, especially children.

“May there be no lack of solidarity with all those forced to leave their native lands and lacking the bare essentials for living,” said Francis, who has often championed the cause of migrants and refugees.

The church’s first pontiff from Latin America cited in particular the problems in Venezuela. He said he hoped the country would “find a just, peaceful and humane way to surmount quickly the political and humanitarian crises that grip it.”

Earlier, tens of thousands of faithful underwent heavy security checks to enter St. Peter’s Square to participate in Easter Sunday Mass celebrated by the pope, followed by his “Urbi et Orbi” message (“to the city and the world.”)

Security precautions included bag checks and metal detector wands for everyone entering the square, while the main avenue leading to the Vatican, as well as smaller adjoining streets, were closed to traffic.

Francis opened Easter festivities with a tweet to his global flock: “Our faith is born on Easter morning: Jesus is alive! The experience is at the heart of the Christian message.”

Elsewhere, hundreds of Christians marked Easter by flocking to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where they believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
Pope Francis says the plight of migrants was "a wound that cries out to heaven". He added, "The issue of migration will never be resolved by raising barriers, fomenting fear of others or denying assistance to those who legitimately aspire to a better life for themselves and their families".