Francis was in Marseille to address a Mediterranean forum on migration.

The image was captured by Reuters photographer Yara Nardi who accompanied the Pope on his journey from Rome to Marseille.

"As soon as I revealed the photograph from its envelope, the Pope was visibly touched," recounted Nardi.

The atmosphere inside the aircraft grew sombre as Pope Francis remarked "They confine them in Libyan detention facilities, only to later cast them adrift at sea."

The poignant photograph, taken by Nardi the previous week on the small Italian island of Lampedusa, zooms in on the eyes of 18-month-old Prince.

The toddler, along with his mother Claudine Nsoe, hails from Cameroon.

They are part of a wave of thousands who have recently made the perilous sea journey from North Africa to Italy.

"He shook my hand and kept the photo," she said.

The encounter on the plane followed a stirring address in Marseille, France, where Pope Francis took a strong stance against rising nationalism and expressed deep concern over the global migrant crisis.

Speaking before a monument dedicated to lives lost at sea, the Pope was in the city to attend the Mediterranean Encounter ("Rencontres Méditerranéennes"), a forum that brought together approximately 120 young individuals of diverse faiths, and bishops from 30 different nations.

The Pope called on both individuals and nations to break free from the shackles of fear and apathy which he said subtly condemn countless lives to a grim fate.

"We can no longer be spectators to the tragedies of shipwrecks, fuelled by ruthless human trafficking and a callous disregard for human life," declared Francis.

Standing before the sea, a symbol of life but also a reminder of perilous journeys that have ended in tragedy, Pope Francis continued - "We convene here to remember those who didn't survive, those who were lost at sea.

"We must resist becoming numb to the news of shipwrecks, to seeing deaths at sea as mere statistics.

"These are not just numbers, these are individuals with names, faces, stories—lives that have been irrevocably broken and dreams that have been crushed."

His words served as a poignant reminder of the human cost of the ongoing migrant crisis and a call to action for a world he believes stands at a critical juncture between compassion and indifference.

Sources

• Reuters
• CNA
• CathNews NZ

In the past 18 months more than 500 people have died, or gone missing at sea, trying to escape Africa. The world barely noticed.

Standing on Lampedusa on Monday, Francis prayed for the victims and cast a wreath in the water to commemorate the dead. More importantly, he drew attention to the desperate plight of migrants, in his country and around the world.

"We have fallen into a globalization of indifference," Francis said, as he stood near an altar made from the salvage of shipwrecks.

The pope wore purple - a color that symbolizes penance in Catholicism - and prayed that world leaders who ignored the plight of migrants might be forgiven.

"The fact he wore purple and asking for forgiveness was very powerful," Christopher M. Bellitto a church historian and Associate Professor at Kean University said.

"This is a guy that socks you in the gut and touches your heart."

It was his first trip outside of Rome since Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected in March as the head of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide. And it showed how quickly he is learning to shine the megawatt spotlight of his popular papacy on issues dear to his heart.

There are obvious differences between a Catholic pontiff and a princess.

But watching Francis' first few months in office, it's hard not to notice that he seems to have taken a page from the late Princess Diana's playbook.

The Princess of Wales knew where she went, the media followed. Her activism brought global attention to homelessness, HIV/AIDs, and, most prominently, land mines.

Just as Diana ventured far from Buckingham Palace to wrap her arms around landmine victims in Africa and elsewhere, Pope Francis has taken the papacy out of the the Sistine Chapel and into the streets. Continue reading

Sources

• Eric Marrapodi in CNN Belief Blog
• Image: Spiegel Online

Eric Marrapodi is CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor.