Pope accused of ignoring 120 asylum seekers taking refuge in the Basilica despite saying church must be 'the first port of call' for migrants

  • Migrants have been occupying Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome
  • The group of 120 have been there for more than a week
  • Have wrote to Pope Francis asking for asylum in the Vatican
  • But after eight days they have still not heard anything back
  • In the past the pontiff said the Vatican would be the 'first port of call' for migrants

By Hannah Roberts

Published: | Updated:


He promised that the Vatican would throw open its convents and monasteries as shelters, while saying that the church must be 'the first port of call' for migrants.

But Pope Francis is seemingly remaining silent in the face of a group of 50 immigrant families, who have taken shelter in his favourite church in Rome.

Around 120 migrants, including 15 children, have been occupying Santa Maria Maggiore, the giant basilica where Francis goes to seek guidance before every major endeavour, for more than a week.

The migrants wrote to Pope Francis, pictured, eight days ago asking for asylum but he has so far not replied

The migrants wrote to Pope Francis, pictured, eight days ago asking for asylum but he has so far not replied

The group, from Algeria, Morocco, Ukraine as well as Romania, have requested asylum from the Vatican after being evicted from their squat in Torre Spracata, a district in south-eastern Rome by Italian authorities.

A letter to the Pope asking for help began: ‘Dear Francis, we are men, women and children, inhabitants of Rome and citizens of Planet Earth.

‘We ask that you make yours the wounds that we carry, that you grant us as human beings who have been persecuted, harassed and humiliated by the Italian State, political asylum.’

But after eight days they have heard nothing.

The church which is officially Vatican territory like all of the four great Basilicas of Rome shuts to parishioners and pilgrims at 8pm every night whereupon the group lay out their beds on its marble floors.

The migrants have been staying inside Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, pictured, said to be one of the Pope's favourite churches in Rome

The migrants have been staying inside Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, pictured, said to be one of the Pope's favourite churches in Rome

They rise at 5.30am and tidy their beds away before mass at 7am. During the day some go to work, while others attempt to sleep in an adjoining nave, or care for children playing in the car park.

Rome city council has offered the group accommodation, but they refused it because they say there is no electricity there and some of the inhabitants there have tuberculosis.

It is not the first time the church has been occupied. In February anti-austerity demonstrators in the Pitchfork Movement set up camp there saying they had urgent questions for Francis.

Don Angelo, one of the priests at the church, told La Repubblica: ‘The Basilica is beginning to feel the weight of their presence.

'They are good people.... But unlike other churches we don’t have another room for parishioners or a space to put them in. This is a holy place that at night turns into a dormitory. ‘


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