Pope Francis, an outspoken proponent for immigrants — both legal and illegal — said Thursday that it’s a “fact” that Europe is currently experiencing an “Arab invasion,” but quickly noted that similar “invasions” turned out well.
“Today we can talk about an Arab invasion,” the Pope told a French Christian group in a speech Thursday, according to excerpts from the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano. Though the “invasion” was a “social fact,” he quickly added, it was nothing new.
Europe has experienced similar waves of migrants, he said, but was always able to “go forward and find itself enhanced by the exchange among cultures.”
The Pope’s attempts to quell the fears of Europeans amid a massive influx of almost entirely Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, particularly Syria and Iraq, mirrors that of many European leaders, like Angela Merkel, who continue to try to portray the “invasion” as potentially positive economically and socially.
The facts on the ground, however, paint a far different picture. Many living in the cities and towns which have seen large numbers of migrants relocated there by the government are beginning to push back against their political leaders’ “generosity” toward the largely working age male Muslim migrants. Several cities have experienced unprecedented crime waves, including mass sexual assaults, resulting in outrage and increased anti-immigrant sentiment. At least one of the radicals that carried out the devastating terror attack in Paris who may have entered the country posing as a Syrian refugee.
Bloomberg notes that the number of Syrian asylum seekers doubled last year to 362,800, while the number from Iraq spiked to 121,500.