The Vatican has refused to explain the process through which the refugees were picked, but attributed the move to the fact that the Christian refugees had arrived after March 20th, when the EU deal with Turkey was made.
“Our staff went to Lesbos and spoke with the people who were selected. But everything was decided by the Vatican,” said spokesperson Massimiliano Signifredi. “The question why the Pope took only Muslims is difficult to understand and he was suffering, I think, because he wanted to do something also for Christians as the chief of the Catholic Church. But he couldn’t because there is this international agreement [with the EU].”
A day before the Pope arrived at the refugee camp in Greece, the siblings had been approached by someone from the charity Sant'Egidio, who had told them that they would be taken to Rome.
“I was so excited to go to Italy - it was such a relief,” said Samir Hanna, from Damascus, who had also been promised refuge in Rome. ‘They offered me my future on a plate, and then 24 hours later they took it away.”
They siblings had left Qamishli, near the Syrian-Turkish border, in March out of fear for their lives.
‘They killed the Christians in Raqqa we heard, so of course we had to leave,” Roula said.
But they have their hopes up, and reuniting with the rest of their family in Germany remains a goal.
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