2013-07-08 · Lampedusa, Italy
Pope Francis Visits Lampedusa
On July 8, 2013, just four months into his pontificate, Pope Francis traveled to the Italian island of Lampedusa to mourn the thousands of migrants who had drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean, challenging what he called the 'globalization of indifference.'
Lampedusa is a tiny island closer to North Africa than to mainland Italy. For years it had been the first point of European land that migrants from Africa and the Middle East could reach by boat. Thousands never made it. They drowned in overloaded, unseaworthy vessels, and their bodies washed up on the beaches or sank to the bottom of the sea. When Francis chose Lampedusa as his first trip outside Rome, it caught everyone off guard. New popes typically make their first trips to major shrines or political capitals. Francis went to a place most Italians tried not to think about. He arrived on July 8, 2013, and celebrated Mass on a makeshift altar fashioned from the wreckage of a migrant boat. The chalice and the altar were made from the wood of vessels that had carried people to their deaths. The lectern was the steering wheel of a boat. In his homily, Francis used a phrase that would define his pontificate: 'the globalization of indifference.' He asked who had wept for the people who drowned. He challenged the comfortable assumption that these deaths were someone else's problem. The visit did not change European migration policy. Thousands more would drown in the years that followed. But it put the pope — and through him, the Catholic Church — squarely on the side of people that most of the world's powerful institutions preferred to ignore. It set the tone for a pontificate that has consistently prioritized the margins over the center, and it connected the Church's social teaching on human dignity to the specific, visible suffering of people dying within sight of European shores.
Why it matters
Defined the early character of Pope Francis's pontificate by prioritizing the suffering of migrants, coined the influential phrase 'globalization of indifference,' and connected Catholic social teaching to the Mediterranean migration crisis.
What Happened
On July 8, 2013, Pope Francis traveled to the island of Lampedusa in his first trip outside Rome. He celebrated Mass at an altar made from the wreckage of migrant boats, using a chalice carved from driftwood and a lectern made from a boat's steering wheel. In his homily, he denounced the 'globalization of indifference' that allowed thousands of people to drown in the Mediterranean without provoking serious action from the world's wealthy nations.
Why It Still Matters
The Lampedusa visit established Francis as a pope who would go to the margins rather than the centers of power. It connected Catholic social teaching — particularly the dignity of every human person — to a specific, ongoing crisis. The phrase 'globalization of indifference' entered the broader vocabulary. The visit did not solve the migration crisis, but it ensured that the Catholic Church could not be accused of looking the other way.