Pope Francis has been bombarded with abuse
from Italian Twitter users after urging Catholics to pray for migrants.
'Migrants are first of all human persons,
and that they are the symbol of all those rejected by today's globalised
society,' the pontiff tweeted on Monday.
But his charitable sentiments garnered him
abuse from social media users in Italy.
'Enough! Stop it! And change the record!'
commented one Twitter user.
'When you have a bit of time between a
lecture on migrants and a sermon on migrants, tell us something about the
children and the destroyed families of Bibbiano,' said another.
'If maybe after four years talking only
about migrants, you would also say a few words about Jesus, Mary, the Holy
Ghost, the resurrection, Hell, I swear we wouldn't be offended,' wrote another
Another Twitter user wrote: 'The word
migrants is a mystification of reality. We begin to make distinctions; take the
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to the Vatican and you keep them.'
'You're out of order! Kick your a*** to
Avignon!' read one angry response, referring to the French town where seven
successive popes reigned from 1309 and 1377.
Francis also prayed for migrants in a
written homily published on Monday
'These least ones are abandoned and cheated
into dying in the desert; these least ones are tortured, abused and violated in
detention camps; these least ones face the waves of an unforgiving sea; these
least ones are left in reception camps too long for them to be called
temporary.'
The Pope's call for compassion for migrants
could put him at odds with populist Italian Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
Salvini has vowed that Italy will no longer
host the hundreds of thousands illegal immigrants crossing the Mediterranean
from North Africa every year.
And he has accused other EU states,
especially France and Germany, of hypocrisy for condemning his stance while
refusing to take in more arrivals.
Daily Mail
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