Usually, at the Angelus/Regina Caeli sung each Sunday on St. Peter's Square, the bishop of Rome mentions some important events of the past week that are of his concern.
Today, Francis remained absolutely silent about the most terrifying event of the week for Catholics, the terrorist attack in Nice, which victimized three Catholics, are new Martyrs Nadine Devillers, 60; Vincent Loquès, 45; and Simone Barreto Silva, 44. His secretary of state had sent to the bishop one of those messages of formality on the very day of the incident, but many were surprised by the complete absence of any reference this Sunday:
I'm surprised the Pope made no reference at the Angelus to Thursdays' horrific Islamist terrorist attack in Nice, France, where three Catholics were murdered in a Church by a newly arrived Tunisian migrant. Nothing at all, not even to express solidarity with the French people.
— Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) November 1, 2020
Now, in a quite distinct way from the other attacks against Christians in France, which were perpetrated by radicalized French-born Muslims, this time the terror has a different source: the illegal landings in the small Italian island of Lampedusa, between Sicily and Tunisia. The terrorist, who shall remain nameless, arrived from Tunisia in Lampedusa just weeks ago, and quickly crossed the Italian peninsula and reached Nice, which is near the French-Italian border.
If our dear readers recall correctly, Lampedusa (and the illegal migrants that have transformed the lives of that island's inhabitants in a daily hell) has been a symbol of the Francis pontificate. The very first trip of his pontificate was to Lampedusa (July 2013), where he wanted to establish his bona fides concerning the illegal landings. He only had words of concern for the illegal migrants, and no offer of consolation neither to the inhabitants of Lampedusa nor to the European governments and citizens having to deal with this major problem: the illegal landings are so numerous that it is impossible to separate the actual refugees (a very tiny minority) from the economic migrants and the embedded terrorists. And this is without mentioning the legitimate concern of many European citizens regarding a complete demographic (including religious) change in the near future which they have not voted on due to an overwhelming number of illegal migrants.
Therefore, it would sound grotesque and inappropriate for Francis to express solidarity with the Martyrs of Nice and with the French population in general if, first, he did not present his most heartfelt apologies for his thoughtless defense of the illegal landings. He has been the number one fan of the Lampedusa landings and, as the loudest voice in Italy, he has immense personal responsibility for the situation that led directly to terrorist attack in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, in Nice. One of those martyrs, Simone Barreto Silva, was herself a migrant, but a legal migrant, a faithful Catholic who just wanted to go to Mass on that weekday morning, before being slaughtered by a Lampedusa migrant.
If Francis isn't going to say he's deeply sorry, then it is much better to remain silent.
