ROME — Pope Francis says his gesture is “a drop of water in the sea” of Europe’s migration crisis. Yet for 12 Syrian refugees, the pope’s decision to fly them back to Italy from Greece is an act of kindness that will resonate for the rest of their lives.
“Thanks be to God,” exulted Wafa, mother of two children who made the trip with her husband Osama as she arrived in Rome. “I thank the pope for this very human gesture.”
The three Muslim families, including six children, had all lost their homes in bombings, the Vatican said. They were chosen because they had their documents in order, not to make a political point to Europe about the need to better integrate Muslims, the pope said.
“Their privilege is that they are children of God,” Francis told reporters en route home to Italy after an emotional trip to Lesbos on Saturday.
The Roman Catholic charity Sant’Egidio, which is providing the refugees with preliminary assistance, welcomed them at their headquarters in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood late Saturday. The mothers were given red roses, and they were applauded as they arrived.
Sant’Egidio released some details about the refugees but didn’t give any of their last names because of privacy concerns.
Hasan and Nour, both engineers, and their 2-year-old son fled their home in Zabadani, a mountainous area on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus that has been heavily bombed. They headed to Turkey and took a boat across the Aegean Sea to Lesbos, as hundreds of thousands before them did, hoping to reach Europe. But Austria and several Balkan nations shut their borders to refugees in early March, stranding more than 50,000 people in Greece.
Ramy and Suhila, a couple in their 50s, came from Deir el-Zour, a Syrian city close to the Iraqi border that has been bombed by the Islamic State. They arrived in Greece with their three children in February via Turkey. Ramy is a teacher, Suhila a tailor, Sant’Egidio said. The third family, Osama and Wafa, hail from the Damascus suburb of Zamalka. Their youngest still wakes each night — and even stopped speaking for a time — apparently because of the trauma of the war and the journey to Europe.
