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The
85-year-old pontiff, son of Italian immigrants to Argentina,
often speaks up for the rights of migrants, and has repeatedly
denounced how the Mediterranean has turned into a "vast
cemetery."
"The inability to find common solutions [on migration] continues
to lead to an unacceptable and almost always avoidable loss of
lives, especially in the Mediterranean," Francis said in a
message to Rome Med 2022, a foreign policy conference.
Insisting that migration towards Europe "cannot be stopped", he
urged all parties involved to find a solution that can be
"beneficial to all, guaranteeing both human dignity and shared
prosperity."
Migration has for years been a political hot potato in Europe,
with governments resorting to increasingly hard-line policies to
try to stem the inflow of migrants and asylum-seekers from North
Africa and the Middle East.
In Italy, one of the first acts of Prime Minister Giorgia
Meloni's right-wing government was the refusal to take in a
charity migrant rescue boat, forcing it to go to all the way
France and causing a furious spat with Paris.
According to data from the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, around
136,500 migrants have reached Europe via Mediterranean sea
crossings this year, and more than 1,800 have died or gone
missing.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Keith Weir)
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