Pope says EU must welcome refugees despite fears

(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 11 - Pope Francis on Monday said the European Union must welcome refugees despite rising fears about terrorism and security.
    The deaths of children in the Mediterranean were indelibly impressed in minds and hearts, he said.
    Speaking to the Vatican diplomatic corps, Francis said that "the inevitable fear" spurred by the "serious migratory emergency" must be overcome in order to address "such a massive phenomenon which in 2015 has hit Europe above all, but also various regions in Asia and North and Central America". Francis urged people to "discern the causes and map out solutions" to the emergency.
    Europe must continue to take in migrants despite the "massive landings" and fears of terrorism" that "seem to shake" Europe's reception system, the pope said. Europe must overcome "fears for security" and "not lose the foundations of its humanistic spirit," he said. Francis paid "special thanks" to Italy for "saving so many lives in the Mediterranean".
    Francis renewed an appeal to "stop people trafficking, which turns human beings into a commodity, especially the weakest and most defenceless." He told the diplomatic corps that "the images of children dead at sea are indelibly impressed in our minds and hearts". Francis has repeatedly urged action to stop migrant disasters in the Mediterranean.
    The pope said the Holy See hopes the first World Humanitarian Summit at the United Nations in May can "succeed, amid the sad daily picture of conflicts and disasters, in decisively overcoming the throwaway culture". Francis told the ambassadors to the Vatican that "we all look with hope to the important steps taken by the international community to reach a political and diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, to put an end to the suffering, which has lasted too long, of the population". He also said only "common action" can defeat terrorism and extremism. In other remarks, the pontiff said the recent inauguration of the Jubilee in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital of Bangui "gave a sign of encouragement" to CAR and reiterated that "those who believe in God must be men of peace". Only a "deviated and ideological form of religion," he said, can justify "massacres" in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
    Francis also sent a message to the national anti-usury board invoking the Holy Spirit to help "fight with all [our] force to defeat the widespread social plagues of usury and gambling". The board, which is a consultative body, aims to coordinate efforts to fight usury and loan-sharking in all their forms.