Pope Francis meets with President of European Parliament
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with the President of the European Parliament,
Martin Schultz. During the meeting, the two men discussed the situation with migrants
crossing the Mediterranean Sea, especially in light of the tragedy off the island
of Lampedusa in which over 300 people died in a shipwreck.
“I share the view
that for the richest part of the world it is a shame that people, just some metres
in front of our borders, or coasts, died. So what the European Union must do, and
the member-states of the Union especially, is reform our whole system of immigration,”
Martin Shultz said. We have the Dublin II Convention which is covering exclusively
political asylum, but temporary protection for refugees from civil war regions, from
regions of natural disasters, or even a system of legal immigration, is missing in
Europe.”
Pope Francis on Friday also met with Jean-Claude Mignon, President
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Listen to the interview
by Fabio Colagrande with Martin Schulz: