Pope meets Macron, presides over mass in southern France

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Pope Francis on Saturday met with French President Emmanuel Macron and presided over a mass attended by up to 70,000 people in the southern French city of Marseille.

During the meeting, the pope and Macron discussed the migrant flow to Europe, mostly via Italy, the French BFM TV broadcaster reported, citing sources from the French presidency.

The number of migrants landed in Italy so far this year has reached over 127,000 – more than double that of the same period in 2022. The majority have set off from Tunisia, where in July, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen signed a controversial deal to stem irregular migration.

"France is a welcoming and integrating country for migrants and has nothing to be ashamed of," Macron told the pope. He said that France would play its role in dealing with the worsening situation by trying to find solutions while fighting against migrant traffickers.

The war in Ukraine and the situation in Sahel were also discussed in the meeting.

Following the meeting, the pope presided over a mass broadcast live by the Vatican News Agency.

“A cold, indifferent heart becomes hardened and insensitive to everything and everyone, even to the tragic discarding of human life, which we see today in the rejection of so many immigrants, of countless unborn children and abandoned elderly people,” he said.