This past weekend, Pope Francis traveled to Marseille for a meeting of bishops and young people from around the Mediterranean basin, where he delivered a powerful message about integrating migrants into society.
The pope’s visit came just as the migration crisis was making headlines across Europe again. The week before his trip, 8,500 migrants and refugees arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa—the site of Pope Francis’ first apostolic visit in 2013—over the course of only three days. Just days before welcoming the pope, France announced it would no longer accept migrants who had arrived in Italy.
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On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle recap three major moments from the pope’s visit, before giving a preview of three important Vatican events coming up in the next week: The consistory to create new cardinals on Sept. 30; the opening of the Synod on Synodality, which includes a prayer vigil where tens of thousands of Christians will pray together asking for the Holy Spirit to descend upon the synod body as it deliberates; and the release of Pope Francis’ follow-up to “Laudato Si’,” which we now know will be an apostolic exhortation entitled “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”) calling all people of goodwill to review what has been done to mitigate climate disasters since the Paris Accords in 2015.
The “Inside the Vatican” and “Jesuitical” podcast teams will be in Rome covering the synod in October! Send your questions about the synod to insidethevatican@americamedia.org. Gerry may answer them on “Jesuitical” next week!
Order a copy of Fr. James Martin, S.J.’s new book, Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle, here.
Links from the show:
- ‘It is cruelty and a terrible lack of humanity’: Pope Francis speaks on Europe’s treatment of migrants
- Pope Francis in Marseille: Take a leap of faith and dare to love your family and those in need
- Pope Francis has called on Europe to change its migration policies—will it?
- Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals on Sept. 30, including U.S. nuncio
- America Magazine’s synod coverage
