In his statement to Malta, Francis did not name President Vladimir Putin, but the reference was clear when he said that “some powerful” had unleashed the threat of a nuclear war on the world in “infantile and destructive aggression.”
“We believed that the invasions of other countries, the brutal street battles and the individual threats were gloomy memories of a distant past,” Francis told Maltese island nation officials at the start of a visit Saturday.
Francis has so far avoided referring to Russia or Putin by name, according to Vatican tradition not to call on the attackers to keep open options for dialogue.  But Saturday’s criticism of the powerful figure responsible for the war 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.
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 Francisco on March 8 to come as a messenger of peace along with other religious figures, but recently warned even the healthy residents of the city who left that the city was still in danger of Russian hostilities.
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 worsened so much that the Vatican arranged an asphalt lift to board and disembark the plane for Saturday’s flight to Malta, and its lameness was most pronounced on Saturday.
The visit to Malta, originally scheduled for May 2020, should always focus on migration, given Malta’s role at the heart of the European migration debate.  The issue became even more important with the forced evacuation of 4 million Ukrainian refugees.  Francis focused his remarks on the dangerous Mediterranean migration route and Europe’s misguided immigration policies to welcome people fleeing war, poverty and conflict.
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 for the Mediterranean to be “a theater of solidarity, not a harbinger of a tragic wreck of civilization”.
Francis was referring to the EU’s training program for the Libyan Coast Guard, which patrols the North African coast for smuggling migrants and brings would-be refugees back to shore.  The program has been strongly supported by Italy and other Mediterranean front-line countries to try to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants each year.
However, human rights groups have condemned the EU-funded program as a violation of migrants’ rights and document blatant violations in Libyan detention camps.  Just this 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.
Francis has condemned Libya’s detention facilities as concentration camps, but went further on Saturday to shame the EU for its complicity in the abuses there.
“Civilized countries can not approve for their own benefit miserable agreements with criminals who enslave other human beings,” 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 and is often fired upon for refusing to let rescue boats dock.  Just this week, a German relief team searched for a port for 106 migrants rescued at sea and, on Saturday, the ship was bound for Sicily.
Malta has often called on its larger European neighbors to bear the brunt of the prospect of 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.
Later Saturday, Francis sailed on the catamaran island of Gozo, building the Mediterranean naval tradition to celebrate a prayer gathering at the Maltese National Sanctuary.  Accompanied by two Maltese clergymen who are key assistants to the Vatican, Francis sat in a white chair on the deck for the hour-long voyage and was greeted by thunderous cannons as the ship approached the port of Gozo.
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