Pope Francis returns from Lesbos, visits St. Mary Major

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Pope Francis greets people as he arrives at St. Mary Major's Basilica after landing in Rome following a visit at the Moria refugee camp in the Greek island of Lesbos - AFP

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis returned to Rome on Saturday with 12 Syrian refugees whom he took back with him on the plane at the end of his 6-hour visit to Lesbos. Upon arrival, he made his customary visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, praying for a short while before the Marian icon Salus populi Romani.

The Greek island of Lesbos is on the frontline in receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing conflict and poverty and during his visit the Pope implored Europe to treat refugees with dignity.

The Pope was accompanied on his trip to Lesbos by the Orthodox leader, the Ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew and the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Ieronymos II. 

During their visit, the three spiritual leaders signed a joint declaration calling on the international community to make the protection of human lives a priority and to extend temporary asylum to those in need. Earlier they toured the Moria refugee camp where many of the refugees fell to their knees and wept at the Pope’s feet as the three spiritual leaders toured the camp and met its inmates.