As Pope Francis used his final address of his Malta visit to urge the Maltese to treat migrants with the same respect as they did St Paul, 90 migrants were reported to have drowned in the Mediterranean. 

The migrants were travelling on an overcrowded boat, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders reported. They were departing from North Africa seeking a better life in Europe, with the mission’s head Juan Matias Gil saying that it was unclear exactly when the boat ran into trouble. 

An oil tanker was reported to have rescued four migrants early Saturday in International waters. The survivors reported they were on the boat along with around 100 other migrants. The group, known by its French acronym MSF, said that the tanker did not respond to its calls not to return the migrants to Libya. 

The group urged Italy and Malta to assign a place of safety for the survivors before it was too late. It also called of the European Union border protection agency Frontex and other EU agencies to reveal incident details. 

Around 300 migrants died, or were assumed as such, along the Central Mediterranean route between January 1st and March 28th. About 3,100 were intercepted and taken back to Libya. 

Pope Francis yesterday finished his visit by meeting migrants at the John XXIII Peace Lab in Hal Far. He was welcomed by Father Dionisio Mintoff, android that nobody likes to leave their loved ones behind because of war, hunger and the inability to build their own future and that of children. 

He spoke on behalf of Christians, saying that because of such situations they are called upon to be ‘close to the weakest and to continue our daily mission towards those who, whether for a limited time or permanently, land on our island, to escape from misery to have a better life.’

Pope Francis heard the testimony of two particular migrants, Daniel Jude Oukeguale and Siriman Coulibaly. He also spoke about the Ukrainian migrants, displaced due to the invasion by Putin’s Russia. He drew comparisons to the way the Apostle Paul was welcomed to the island when his vessel was shipwrecked in Malta. 

The Peace Lab is a voluntary organisation which was inaugurated by Giuseppe Roncalli, the brother of Pope John XXIII on 25th March 1971. Based in Ħal Far in a site which was originally part of an airfield which saw intensive air combats during World War II, it includes a church and a number of rooms, surrounded by extensive gardens. 

#MaltaDaily