Francis did not name Russian President Vladimir Putin by name, but the reference was clear when he said that “some powerful” had unleashed the threat of nuclear war on the world in a “baby and destructive aggression” under the guise of “anachronistic claims.” nationalist interests “. “We believed that invasions of other countries, savage street battles and individual threats were gloomy memories of a distant past,” Francis told Maltese officials and diplomats in the Mediterranean island nation at the start of a visit. To date, Francis has avoided mentioning Russia or Putin by name. But Saturday’s personalization of the strong figure in charge signaled a new level of anger for the Pope. “Once again, some powerful people, unfortunately trapped in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, are provoking and inciting conflicts, while ordinary people feel the need to build a future that is either common or non-common,” he said. The Vatican tends not to call on aggressors in the hope of keeping open options for dialogue. The Vatican, which in recent years has forged unprecedented new relations with the Russian Orthodox Church allied with Putin, has been offered as a possible mediator, but to this day has largely remained on the diplomatic fringe. Francis told reporters on his way to Malta that a possible visit to Kyiv was “on the table”, but no dates have been set and the trip has not been confirmed. The mayor of the Ukrainian capital had invited Francis to come as a messenger of peace along with other religious figures. Francis also said that the war had hurt his heart so much that he sometimes forgets the pain in his knees. Francis has been suffering from a stretched ligament in his right knee for months. The inflammation became so severe that the Vatican arranged an asphalt lift to transport him and get off the plane for Saturday’s flight to Malta. The visit, originally scheduled for May 2020, should always focus on migration, given Malta’s role at the heart of the migration debate in Europe. Speaking with the Maltese president on his side, Francis denounced the “miserable agreements” the European Union has concluded with Libya on the return of migrants and said that Europe must show humanity when welcoming them. He called on the Mediterranean to be “a theater of solidarity, not a harbinger of a tragic shipwreck of civilization”. Francis was referring to the EU’s seven-year training program for the Libyan Coast Guard, which patrols the North African Mediterranean coast for smuggling migrants and brings would-be refugees back to shore. The program has been strongly supported and supported by Italy and other Mediterranean front-line countries to try to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants who pay Libyan-based smugglers to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. Human rights groups have condemned the EU-funded program as a violation of migrants’ rights and document blatant violations in detention camps where returning migrants are being held. Just last week, the German said his army would no longer provide training to the Libyan Coast Guard given the “unacceptable” and in some cases illegal treatment of migrants. Francesco has condemned Libya’s detention facilities as concentration camps, but went further on Saturday, embarrassing the EU for its complicity in the abuses. “Civilized countries can not approve for their own benefit miserable agreements with criminals who enslave other human beings,” he said. “Unfortunately, this is happening.” “Today, when those who cross the Mediterranean in search of salvation face fear and the narrative of the ‘invasion’ and the preservation of their own security at any cost seems to be the primary goal, let us help each other not to see the immigrant as “a threat and not to succumb to the temptation to raise mobile bridges and raise walls,” he said. “Other people are not a virus we have to protect ourselves from, but people we have to accept,” he said. Malta, the smallest country in the European Union with a population of half a million, has long been at the forefront of the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean. It has often called on its larger European neighbors to bear more of the burden of aspiring refugees. Francis often repeated this call and associated it on Saturday with the welcome once given by the Maltese to the Apostle Paul, who according to the biblical narrative sank off the coast of Malta around 60 AD. while he was on his way to Rome and the islanders showed him unusual kindness. .
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