He has made the statement twice during the past fortnight: once on Saturday on during his in-flight press conference when he left Egypt.

He was first reported saying on 22 April when he was meeting with some migrants at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew in Rome.

He was speaking to them about his visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year.

He continued with the comparison, saying the camps are like the Nazi concentration camps because "migrants are penned in and prevented from leaving."

Both Jewish and German groups reacted in shock when his statement was reported.

The German response was to ask Francis if he's made a linguistic error.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said the Pope's comparison wasn't appropriate and he should find an alternative.

"The conditions in which migrants are currently living in some European countries may well be difficult, and deserve still greater international attention, but concentration camps they certainly are not," said AJC CEO David Harris.

"The Nazis and their allies erected and used concentration camps for slave labor and the extermination of millions of people during World War II. There is no comparison to the magnitude of that tragedy," he added.

Source

• The Washington Post
• The Times of Israel
• ArutzSheva
• Image: Anadolu Agency

This adds to the 12 who accompanied Pope Francis when he returned from the Greek island of Lesbos in April.

The nine refugees, like the twelve who preceded them, were living in a refugee camp on Lesbos.

The Sant'Egidio community in Rome has agreed to provide them with food and housing, as it is doing for the original twelve.

The nine Syrian refugees who arrived in Rome on June 16 included two Christians.

Continue reading

Three refugee families, including six children, boarded the Pope's plane for Rome at the end of his short visit on April 16.

A Vatican spokesman said: "The Pope has desired to make a gesture of welcome regarding refugees."

The three Muslim families had arrived on Lesbos before the new European Union deal with Turkey was implemented on March 20.

It is understood that paperwork for the 12 people to go to Rome was arranged in advance.

On his flight back from Lesbos, the Pope said the decision to bring the families to Rome was the fruit of an inspiration one of his collaborators had a week ago.

Two Christian families originally had been on the Vatican's list, too, he said, but their papers were not ready in time.

Two of the families which went to Rome are from Damascus, while the third is from the ISIS stronghold of Deir el-Zour in the north of the country.

Their homes had been bombed.

The Vatican will take responsibility for supporting the families.

But the Catholic Sant'Egidio community will take care of getting them settled initially.

On Lesbos, the Pope urged the European Union to change its policy towards the migrants.

He said: '"We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity."

While on Lesbos, Pope Francis blasted people smugglers and arms traffickers whom he blamed for worsening the current refugee crisis in Europe.

The Pontiff was greeted at the camp by a large group of children, some of whom arrived in Greece without their parents.

Addressing the refugees, he said: "You are not alone. Do not lose hope."

Children offered Francis drawings and the Pope praised one little girl for her artwork, saying "Bravo. Bravo."

Then as he handed it off to his staff he stressed: "Don't fold it. I want it on my desk."

Pope Francis was accompanied on his visit by Patriarch Bartholomew I and Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos II.

Sources

• Daily Mail
• The Guardian
• Aleteia
• Catholic Herald
• Full text of Pope's interview on flight from Lesbos
• Image: ABC

On his flight back from the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, the Pope was asked about a much-commented-upon footnote in his recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

In a section of the document discussing pastoral discernment for divorced and remarried persons, a footnote (351) stated that "in certain cases [the Church's help to grow in the life of grace and charity] can include the help of the sacraments".

A journalist asked why the Pope had put that in a footnote, and if it meant he wanted to indicate the issue was not overwhelmingly important.

"One of the last Popes, speaking about the Council, said there were two Councils," Francis responded.

"The Second Vatican Council that met in St Peter's Basilica and the other was the Council of the media."

"When I convoked the first synod, the great worry of the majority of the media was will they give Communion to the divorced and remarried?" he continued.

"Not being a saint, this annoyed me a bit, but also made me a bit sad," said Francis.

"The media that say this . . . do not see that this is not the important problem of the Church.

"They do not see that the family in all the world is in crisis. And family is the base of society."

The Pope also lamented Europe's declining birth rates, youth not wanting to marry and a lack of jobs.

Francis was also asked if, after the exhortation, there are new concrete possibilities regarding the Church's pastoral practice for remarried Catholics

"I can say yes, many" responded Francis.

"But it would be an answer that is too small," he added.

Francis referred to the presentation of Amoris Laetitia by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn earlier this month.

"In that presentation, your question will find an answer," Francis said, noting that Cardinal Schonborn is a "great theologian".

Cardinal Schonborn had suggested that the footnote was part of a "via caritatis" proposed by the Pope, that did not offer case studies or recipes, but stressed mercy and help for the weak.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic News Agency (text of Pope's in-flight press conference)
• Zenit (text of Cardinal Schonborn's presentation)
• Amoris Laetitia
• Image: Catholic Herald

This morning, you met with the presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, at Santa Martha. I wanted to ask you your sensations on the meeting and on your way of approaching North American politics…

Pope Francis: "First of all, there is no political speculation because I didn't know much about these accords between Turkey and Europe. I saw them in the newspapers. Bringing these refugees away is a humanitarian thing. It was an inspiration from a week ago that I immediately accepted, because I saw that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking.

Everything was done legally. They've come with us with their documents in order. The Vatican, Italy and Greece have given them a visa. They will be welcomed by the Vatican with the collaboration of Sant'Egidio who will find work for them. But they are guests of the Vatican and they are added to the two Syrian families that are already given hospitality by the two Vatican parishes.

Second. This morning when I walked out, there was Senator Bernie Sanders who came to the congress on "Centessimus Annus." He knew that I was leaving at that time and he had the courteousness to greet me.

I greeted him and his wife, and another couple with him that was staying in Santa Marta, because all of the members of the congress, except the heads of state who I believe were staying in their embassies, were staying at the Santa Martha residence.

I gave a greeting and nothing more. A greeting is an educated thing to do and does not mean to be mixed up with politics. If someone thinks that to give a greeting means to get mixed up in politics, I think he needs a psychiatrist. Continue reading

Sources

• Catholic New Agency
• Image: Independent UK

Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press office, said the invitation for the pope to visit the island came from Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, and Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

A Vatican statement released on April 7 said Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Jerome II of Athens and Greece will join the pontiff during the visit.

Lombardi said that through the visit Pope Francis will call "all communities of believers to solidarity and responsibility" in the face of a "situation of intense suffering."

Hundreds of thousands of refugees, many fleeing conflict in North Africa and the Middle East, are staying on the Greek island since their arrival in Europe in the past year.

The Vatican has earlier criticized a plan to deport illegal migrants from Greece and return them to Turkey.

Lombardi said the pope's visit to Lesbos is "an initiative of all the Christian churches together."

There is still no schedule for the trip, but the Vatican spokesman it will be a "brief" visit.

Sources

Catholic News Agency
The Wall Street JournalThe Guardian
Image: The Wall Street Journal