Pope says migrants living in gulag conditions amid indifference

Pope Francis leads Holy Mass at the GSP Stadium, in Nicosia, Cyprus, December 3, 2021. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Pope Francis, at an emotional meeting with migrants, said on Friday he had a responsibility to tell the hard truth about the suffering of refugees, many held in conditions he compared to those in Nazi and Soviet camps.

Francis, who has made defence of migrants and refugees a cornerstone of his pontificate, spoke at the end of his second day in Cyprus, where he met migrants, some of whom will be among 50 to be re-located to Italy on his initiative over the coming months.