Pope Francis collides with Meloni, describes the exclusion of migrants as “criminal”

• Pope Francis spoke out strongly in defense of migrants.
• He called their exclusion “scandalous, disgusting, and sinful.”
• This put him on a collision course with Italy’s new right-wing government.

Pope Francis spoke out strongly in defense of migrants, calling their exclusion “scandalous, disgusting, and sinful.” This put him on a collision course with Italy’s new right-wing government, which will take office in June.

Francis said these things as he made a bishop from the 1800s known as the “father of migrants” and a man from the 1900s who helped the sick in Argentina into saints.

Francis, who has made helping migrants a big part of his job as pope, led the ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, where 50,000 people were present.

“The exclusion of migrants is scandalous. Indeed, the exclusion of migrants is criminal. It makes them die in front of us,” he said.

“And so today the Mediterranean is the world’s largest cemetery,” he said, referring to thousands who have drowned trying to reach Europe.

“The exclusion of migrants is disgusting, it is sinful. It is criminal not to open doors to those who are needy,” he said.

Giorgia Meloni is expected to become prime minister later this month. She will lead a right-wing coalition that has promised to crack down on immigration and tighten Italy’s borders.

She has said that she will speed up deportations and make asylum rules stricter. Meloni has also asked for a naval blockade of North Africa to stop migrants from sailing there and for charity rescue ships to be limited even more.

Francis didn’t say anything about Italy, but he did say that some migrants who are sent back are put in “concentration camps where they are used and treated like slaves.” He has said this has happened in Libya in the past.

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