Pope voices support for first migrant rescue mission organized by Italian Bishops
By Joseph Tulloch – Trapani
A little over a week ago, on August 15, the North African cities of Tunis and Casablanca held processions for the feast of Our Lady of Trapani and Tunis.
The Marian devotion, which owes its name to the Tunisian capital and to the western Sicilian town of Trapani, was brought to North Africa by Italian immigrants. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 100,000 living in Tunis alone.
It’s a reminder of a time – one which came to an end only a few decades ago, but which seems to belong to an entirely different age – when people moved in both directions across the Mediterranean in search of a better life.
Today, the traffic is one-way. The UN estimates that 212,100 migrants and refugees attempted to cross the central Mediterranean from Algeria, Libya and Tunisia in 2023. Around 3,100 of them are known to have lost their lives, but the real figure is almost certainly far higher.
First joint mission
Trapani was the departure point for a search and rescue mission launched on Friday by Mediterranea Saving Humans, an Italian civil society platform that rescues migrants and refugees attempting the perilous sea crossing.
This will be the group’s 18th such operation since it was founded in 2018, but the first to be jointly organised with the Italian Bishops’ Migrantes foundation.
In a message sent on Saturday, Pope Francis sent his blessings and support for the mission of the Mediterranea Saving Humans.
"I wish you all the best and send my blessing to the crew of Mediterranea Saving Humans and to Migrantes. I pray for you. Thank you so much for your witness. May the Lord bless you and may the Virgin protect you," wrote the Pope.
Thanks to the Italian bishops' support, the Mare Jonio – a repurposed tugboat used for Mediterranea Saving Human’s search and rescue operations – will be joined by a support ship, tasked with observation and communication. It will be carrying extra volunteers and medical personnel, as well as an intercultural mediator and a small group of journalists.
Mission underway
Pope is aboard that ship, which, alongside the Mare Jonio, has now left Trapani and is heading out into the Mediterranean.
As it departed Italian waters, Mediterranea made two significant announcements.
Firstly, it stressed that, in view of the increasing mistreatment of migrants in Tunisia, it would no longer be collaborating with the Tunisian coastguard in search and rescue operations. (This was already their position regarding Libya, where wanton violence against migrants and refugees by militias has long been an established fact).
Secondly, Mediterranea – which has often been ordered by the Italian government to deliver those it rescues to distant northern ports – announced that it would not be accepting orders to disembark in any port outside of Sicily.
Brought together by ‘visceral love’
Although this is their first official joint venture, the collaboration between the Church and Mediterranea extends several years back.
Pope Francis has often met with members of the organisation, and has publicly voiced his support. In 2019, he placed a crucifix adorned with a lifejacket, gifted to him by Mediterranea, in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
Many of the Italian bishops have also voiced their support for the organisation, which collaborates closely with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Before departure, in fact, the Bishop of Trapani, Pietro Maria Fragnelli, visited the support boat to offer his blessing and present the crew with a specially made icon.
Mediterranea is, however, a secular organisation. Its staff and volunteers profess all faiths, and none.
It is love of neighbour, says Fr. Mattia Ferrari, the organisation’s chaplain, that brings all members – atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Christians – together.
He uses the Greek verb splagchnizomai, from the Gospels – often translated as “to be moved with compassion”, but meaning, etymologically, something closer to “to love viscerally” – to describe the impulse that brings volunteers from these diverse backgrounds together in their quest to help imperiled migrants.
Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here
