Fast for Justice in Solidarity with Migrants: September 9

“We cannot become accustomed to counting the dead. Human dignity has no passport, and it does not lose its dignity when it crosses a border.”

These were the powerful words spoken by Pope Leo XIV during his visit to Lampedusa on July 5. In choosing to visit the island where migrants arrive, he gave priority to this visit over the Independence Day celebrations in the United States, to which he had officially been invited on July 4. In this way, the Pope sent a strong message to his country of origin, which is increasingly closing in on itself through Trump’s racist and criminal laws, the raids on migrants carried out by ICE agents, and attempts to abolish jus soli.

Pope Leo wished to remind the American people that migrants were the ones who helped shape the future of the nation. To the Italian people, meanwhile, he recalled that there cannot be two Lampedusas: one beach for tourists and another where people arriving by boat are relegated.

Pope Leo was also sharp in his criticism of the European Union, which recently approved the notorious Migration Pact. It is scandalous that, after voting for this Pact, members of the European Parliament reportedly celebrated the approval of the new regulation by singing: “Send them home!”

To this Europe, the Pope recalls: “The dead of this sea are victims both of decisions that were made and of decisions that were not made.”

The Mediterranean has become Cimiterium Nostrum—“Our Cemetery”—as Pope Francis repeatedly called it, where around one hundred thousand migrants are buried.

And even during these days of August, migrants continue to drown in the Mediterranean, as a result of the criminal policies of the European Union and the Meloni government.

Pope Leo said in Rimini: “Before borders, there are people.”

The President of the World Council of Churches, Lutheran Bishop Bedford-Strohm, went even further: “The current controversy is shameful, because for some politicians the only thing that seems to matter is how many people they have expelled. The opposite should be true: the success of politics should be measured by its ability to guarantee as many people as possible a life of dignity. What we are witnessing has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity.”

Either Europe will succeed in putting people before borders, or it must stop calling itself Christian.

In protest against these inhumane and racist policies, the Fast for Justice in Solidarity with Migrants will take place on September 9 in Rome, on Via di San Nicola de’ Cesarini (Largo Argentina), starting at 5:00 p.m.

Father Alex Zanotelli, MCCJ, on behalf of the Fast for Justice in Solidarity with Migrants.