Mass migration one of the world’s ‘grave issues’ says Pope Francis who calls on governments to help them reach Europe and avoid any more tragedies

pope FrancisThe pope has urged governments to help migrants reach Europe, to avoid more tragic shipwrecks in the Mediterranean.

In a letter to the International Labour Conference, Francis said that mass migration was one of the ‘grave issues’ confronting our world today.

The letter follows two tragic shipwrecks in the Mediterranean earlier this month. A boat carrying hundreds of migrants sunk 100 miles off the coast of Italy, killing at least 18 with dozens more unaccounted for. A few days earlier 40 people drowned when a boat carrying 130 people sunk off the coast of Libya.
More than 40,000 have made the crossing in recent months often on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats. Italy says at least half a million more are awaiting a passage to Europe, in camps run by criminal gangs, on the coastline of Libya.

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