In a video message to an event in the Italian island of Lampedusa, highlighting its history of welcome and hospitality, Pope Leo XIV thanks the local community for its long-standing witness of welcome to migrants and appeals for a “culture of reconciliation” as a path to peace and fraternity.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Leo XIV has urged all people to oppose what he described as a “globalisation of impotence” with a “culture of reconciliation,” in a video message delivered to participants in the Gesti dell’Accoglienza event in Lampedusa.
“Gestures of Welcome”
The event, whose name means “Gestures of Welcome,” brings together local residents, volunteers, Church representatives, and civic authorities to reflect on the island’s experience as a frontline of migration. It highlights stories of hospitality, commemorates those who lost their lives at sea, and reaffirms a commitment to solidarity with those seeking refuge on Europe’s shores.
Greeting the gathering with the local word O’scià!—meaning “breath” or “spirit”—the Pope linked it to the biblical meaning of the Spirit of God.
“As believers, we invoke upon each other the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the people of Lampedusa and nearby Linosa for their decades of witness in welcoming migrants, acknowledging associations, volunteers, civic authorities, priests, doctors, and security forces who continue to assist those arriving on the island’s shores.
There is no justice without compassion
“There is no justice without compassion; there is no legitimacy without listening to the suffering of others,” he stated.
Pope Leo also recalled the many migrants who lost their lives at sea and were buried in Lampedusa, calling them “seeds from which a new world is meant to sprout.”
At the same time, he pointed to the thousands who survived and now live better lives, many of whom, he noted, have themselves become “workers for justice and peace, because goodness is contagious.”
No to the ‘globalisation of indifference’
The Pope drew continuity with Pope Francis, who made Lampedusa the destination of his first Apostolic Visit in July 2013, when he denounced the “globalisation of indifference” in the face of migration tragedies.
Today, Pope Leo warned, the risk is a different one: “Faced with injustice and innocent suffering, we are more aware, but risk standing still, silent, and sad, defeated by the feeling that nothing can be done.”
He stressed that history is not written only by the powerful, but “is saved by the humble, the just, the martyrs, in whom goodness shines and authentic humanity resists and is renewed.”
Appeal to foster reconciliation
As an alternative to resignation, the Pope appealed to all people of goodwill to foster reconciliation. “There are no enemies; there are only brothers and sisters. We need gestures of reconciliation and policies of reconciliation,” he said, inviting communities to heal wounds, overcome prejudices, and recognise shared hopes.
Concluding his message, Pope Leo encouraged perseverance on the path of encounter and reconciliation, “so that islands of peace may multiply, becoming pillars of bridges, allowing peace to reach all peoples and all creatures.”
He invoked the intercession of Mary, Star of the Sea, and imparted his blessing with the greeting: O’scià!
