Italy's top bishop visited Lampedusa Wednesday and praised the Sicilian island's inhabitants for how they had coped with an unprecedented influx of migrants from North Africa.
"Let Italy and Europe not forget Lampedusa," Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said after touching down on this stepping stone between Africa and Europe.
"Let Italy and Europe not forget Lampedusa," Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said after touching down on this stepping stone between Africa and Europe.
"In the first stage of the (migrant) assault," he said, "the community risked being depicted as racist but then it showed generosity, reaching a peak in the latest shipwreck, a few days ago, which could have been a tragedy but was not because people didn't hesitate to dive into the sea to rescue (migrants)".
Lampedusa was flooded with about 25,000 migrants from Tunisia in the first months of the year, followed recently by thousands of boat people suspected to have been sent deliberately by the Gaddafi regime in war-torn Libya in unseaworthy vessels which have risked foundering.
Three people drowned in the latest shipwreck but over 500 were saved.
Lampedusa was flooded with about 25,000 migrants from Tunisia in the first months of the year, followed recently by thousands of boat people suspected to have been sent deliberately by the Gaddafi regime in war-torn Libya in unseaworthy vessels which have risked foundering.
Three people drowned in the latest shipwreck but over 500 were saved.
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