Broadcast: Part no re-use after 17:00GMT on September 30, 2023. Digital: Part no re-use after 17:00GMT on September 30, 2023.. For Rome Reports customers only.
The migration crisis characterized the papal flight to Marseille, France from the very first minute. Pope Francis highlighted this to journalists during the brief greeting he shared with them.
In the last few weeks, more than 16,000 migrants and refugees from Africa have arrived in Italy alone.
POPE FRANCIS
So many things in this city that is the door, the window and everything on the Mediterranean.
As usual, many of the journalists presented gifts to the Pope.
After an almost two-hour flight, Pope Francis landed at Marseille International Airport. The Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, and the French Chief of Protocol boarded the plane by the front staircase to greet him.
At the foot of the plane, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne welcomed the Pope. In addition, four children dressed in traditional attire offered him flowers and the Pope gave them rosaries. Thus began the Pope's 44th international trip. This visit also includes the closing of the "Encounters of the Mediterranean" meeting, bringing together civil and religious representatives from all over the region. Francis is the first pope to visit this city in almost five centuries.
PA
TR: KG
