In a video message broadcast on the evening of September 12, 2025, Pope Leo XIV expressed his support for those involved in a project to have the island of Lampedusa included in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage called "Gestures of Hospitality." The Italian island, located not far from the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, is one of the symbols of the migrant crisis.
Following in the footsteps of Pope Francis, Leo XIV expressed his support for those involved in welcoming migrants arriving on the shores of Lampedusa.
Pope Francis, just four months after his election, visited the Mediterranean island to "mourn the dead" of this sea, which had become "a great cemetery."
According to the United Nations, more than 20,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean between 2014 and 2020.
Speaking for about 10 minutes in front of the camera, Leo XIV took the time to thank the associations, volunteers, mayors, doctors, priests, security forces, "all those who, often invisibly, have shown and continue to show the smile and attention of a human face to the survivors."
He added that he hoped to greet them "soon in person."
"So many victims – including so many mothers and children – from the depths of the Mare Nostrum cry out not only to the heavens, but also to our hearts," said the head of the Catholic Church in this message intended to support Lampedusa's application for inclusion in UNESCO's list of "Gestures of Hospitality" as part of its intangible cultural heritage.
A sign for the future
This initiative comes from a French association called PEROU (Pôle d'Exploration des Ressources Urbaines). Since 2012, it has been seeking to archive and develop "acts of hospitality" carried out in response to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
Sébastien Thiéry, a doctor of political science and coordinator of the association, explained in 2021 on Radio France that gestures of friendship, rescue, fraternity and care were a heritage to be protected and passed on to future generations.
From indifference to powerlessness
In his video, the Pope mentions the "migrant brothers and sisters" buried in Lampedusa. They "rest in the earth like seeds from which a new world must sprout," he insists.
Leo XIV also thinks of the "thousands of faces" who now live a better life "and will never forget your charity."
After Francis denounced "the globalisation of indifference," Leo XIV condemns that of "powerlessness."
"Just as Pope Francis opposed the globalization of indifference with a culture of encounter, so I would like us today, together, to begin to oppose the globalization of powerlessness with a culture of reconciliation," the 267th pope proposes.
