Refugees from Lesbos await Pope Francis.

About twenty refugees received an exceptional authorization to leave the Mavrovouni camp on Saturday and await euphoric on the porch of Lesbos’ only Catholic church for the arrival of Pope Francis, who will disembark on the island on Sunday.

Christian Tango, a 31-year-old from Congo, “hopes that the pope will bring the voice” of the refugees “to the whole world,” he told AFP shortly before entering the chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption, built in 1843 by monks. French Franciscans.

Like the rest of his fieldmates, Tango can only go out once a week, but on Sunday he hopes to be able to speak with the pope.

“The pope knows the reality of refugees very well, better than European politicians and leaders,” says this migrant, who lost his wife and an 8-year-old daughter during the dangerous journey that took them to Greece.

For the pope’s visit to Lesbos, the second in five years, the authorities deployed 850 police officers to the island, restricted access to the camp (including for journalists) and replaced 93 tents with containers equipped with electricity.

On the Greek island, emblematic point of the 2015 migration crisis, Catholic refugees are euphoric.

“Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of my life, I did not think that one day I would have the opportunity to see the pope with my own eyes,” explains Berthe N’Goyo, who will be one of the ten people chosen to sing for the pope.

This Cameroonian woman, who arrived on the island only three months ago, is already rehearsing the songs: “We are united in your love.”

“Faith allows me to move forward, to overcome all the tests of my life, the exile, the trip, in which my boat capsized on the high seas, the uncertainty of the future,” he says.

– “More humanity” –

In Athens, on Saturday, the Supreme Pontiff criticized “the European community, torn by nationalist selfishness,” which “sometimes appears blocked and uncoordinated, instead of being an engine of solidarity.”

“I hope that the Pope will bring our voice to the whole world and, specifically, to the European countries that should welcome refugees with more humanity,” says Christian Tango.

His two daughters, 6 and 7 years old, sing a song with other children in Lingala (a Bantu language spoken in central Africa), which says: “Do not be afraid of us, my friend, because we are refugees.”

Enice Kiaku, who has been in Lesbos for two years, wants the Pope to take her with him. “Conditions are very difficult in the countryside, I am alone with my children,” laments this Congolese who has “lost hope of seeing” how her situation improves.

During his previous visit to Lesbos, in April 2016, Francis returned to the Vatican with twelve Syrian refugees.

– “Systemic crisis” –

Migrant arrivals to the Greek islands have been declining over the years, from 173,450 in 2016 to 3,653 in 2021, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The saturated and unsanitary field of Moria, the largest in Europe, burned in September 2020 and was replaced by a structure built quickly and running on a former firing range of the Greek army.

During his visit to the new camp, “the pope is going to find a different situation than in 2016,” explains Clotilde Scolamierto, head of mission for the NGO Intersos.

“We are no longer in the same state of emergency but rather facing a perpetual systemic crisis, in which refugees continue to need help (…) locked up in highly guarded camps,” he explains.

His organization, along with 35 others, sent a letter to the pope to denounce the installation of “closed and controlled access” camps such as those on the islands of Samos, Leros and Kos. They also ask the pope to intervene to stop the alleged expulsions of migrants to Turkey.

Clotilde Scolamiero saw “a degradation of the mental health of the residents of the camp.” Because “most of them see asylum being denied and go into depression because they are literally blocked on the island without knowing what future awaits them.” (I)