Pope Francis made his first trip of his papacy outside Rome to Lampedusa, a small island off Sicily that had become a flashpoint for asylum-seeking refugees. Tragically, an overloaded boat sank, killing hundreds of men, women, and children from Libya and Eritrea. There, he prayed, visited survivors, thanked those caring for the refugees, and put a wreath in the ocean in memory of the dead. In his homily at a Mass that day, the Holy Father coined a poignant phrase defining the reason for the plight of these and countless other “people on the periphery”, calling it the “globalization of indifference”:
“The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people, indeed; it even leads to the globalization of indifference. We become used to the suffering of others: it doesn’t affect or concern me; it’s none of my business! Has any one of us wept because of this situation and others like it?” (Homily, 8 July 2013) (source: http://vincentians.ie/lent-and-the-lesson-of-lampedusa)