On the occasion of his visit to Marseille, Pope Francis castigated the “indifference” reserved for migrants. A speech that resonates in the French political debate, as the government line is intended to be severe on this subject. The left has also accused Emmanuel Macron of hypocrisy, who chose to be present at the mass that the sovereign pontiff is giving this Saturday, September 23 at the Vélodrome stadium.

If the head of the Catholic Church assured to go to Marseille, “but not to France”, he was thus received by the president and his wife, Brigitte Macron. Saturday morning, at the Pharo Palace, he warned, in his frail voice, the French and European political class on the subject. Migrants “who risk their lives at sea do not invade”, they “should not be considered as a burden”, he affirmed, pleading for “a large number of legal and regular entries” when the trend is at the restriction.

For him, those who speak of an “invasion” only fuel “fear” and he calls for “European responsibility”. He has been invited into a lively debate in France and defends the “integration” of foreigners rather than the “assimilation” dear to the right.

What does Emmanuel Macron, whose line on this explosive theme may have fluctuated since his arrival at the Élysée in 2017, think? He who advocated a “duty of European solidarity” with Italy in the face of the influx of migrants on the island of Lampedusa, but who also promised to “significantly reduce immigration”?

Next to the president, his Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, responsible for the very complex gestation of a law on immigration which is currently struggling to bring together a parliamentary majority, is also listening. France “will not welcome migrants” from Lampedusa, he warned again at the start of the week.

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron then attended the giant mass celebrated by “Papa Francesco” at the Vélodrome stadium, the home of Olympique de Marseille – the head of state’s favorite club. A presidential decision which caused controversy, with the left denouncing an attack on secularism.

“The President of the Republic has nothing to do there […], I think he is making a mistake,” said the leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Saturday from Marseille where he was taking part in the united march against police violence. Emmanuel Macron “behaves in a particularly hypocritical manner because it is he who puts these policies in place” on immigration, he continued, while once again welcoming the “useful” role of the Pope in denouncing “barbarity against migrants”.

“I disagree with Pope Francis, I find that Pope Francis does not have to do politics and that he does too much,” Marion Maréchal, the head of the list of Reconquest!, Eric Zemmour’s party, for the European elections.

In his speech on Saturday morning, the sovereign pontiff included another theme which could be interpreted as a warning to Emmanuel Macron: that of the end of life. He criticized the “falsely worthy perspective of a gentle death, in reality saltier than the waters of the sea”, while the government is preparing to unveil its bill on this subject, which could go so far as to authorize “active assistance in dying.”