Pope Francis on his visit to Greece and Cyprus criticized the countries that closed their borders to refugees. "Please let us stop this shipwreck of civilization!" said the Pontiff, commenting on the loss of life in the Mediterranean at the Mytilene Reception and Identification Center. This camp currently houses around 2000 refugees from many parts of the world like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.

The Pope remarked that countries should stop shifting responsibility and passing off the issue of migration to others. He also said that though we created walls amongst ourselves, the pandemic has made us realize that "we are all in the same boat."

Pope Francis greeted dozens of refugees as he walked through the Mavrovouni camp which is home to around 2300 displaced people. Many expressed their problems to the pontiff. The Pope also thanked the residents of Lesbos for welcoming refugees, despite being a small island.

On his earlier visit in 2016, the Vatican had taken 12 refugees from Lesbos to Rome. During this visit the Pope has made arrangements for 50 refugees to be transferred from Cyprus to Italy. Out of this number, twelve refugees will be transferred in the coming weeks.

Pope Francis will end his five-day visit to Cyprus and Greece on Monday.