VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org): A Vatican spokesman is remembering in prayer the hundreds of people who died in recent weeks in the Mediterranean Sea while fleeing conflicts in North Africa.
Since the unrest and conflict began in various countries of North Africa in February, almost 22,000 migrants, the majority Tunisians, have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa, reported the Italian interior ministry.
One of the latest tragedies happened when a boat capsized and 250 migrants fell into the sea.
Vatican press office director Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi recalled these refugees fleeing “from famine, from inhuman poverty, from oppression, from violence, from war … risking death among the waves without leaving a trace, not even a memory of their name”.
“Many times, in these days, there has been talk of grief ‘without a name’,” the Vatican spokesman said on the latest edition of Octava Dies.
“Compassion obliges us not to forget, to remember, as before other unspeakable tragedies of humanity, of a history that is ours, in solidarity with the poor of the earth.”
The priest noted that this has been perfectly understood by the Jewish people in the raising the Yad Vashem memorial, “the memorial of names”.
He recalled that Pope Benedict XVI gave a meditation there that is evoked these days in the face of the deaths of so many innocent and unknown victims.
“They lost their lives but they will never lose their names – said the Pope in that place. These are permanently engraved in the hearts of their dear ones, of the survivors and of those who are determined not to permit a similar horror to dishonour humanity again,” Fr Lombardi said.
“Their names, in particular and above all, are engraved indelibly in the memory of God Almighty.”
The priest noted the Pontiff’s words: “May their sufferings never be denied, belittled or forgotten!
“And may every person of good will remain vigilant to eradicate from man’s heart anything that is capable of leading to tragedies like this one!”
The Vatican spokesman appealed for the eradication of the “absurd hatred that led to the Shoah” and to be “committed also now to eradicate injustice, indifference and egoism, which lead too many persons, seeking a more human life, to disappear in the waters”.
“God remembers them; let us also remember them,” he said.
