Church shelters for the boat people

Italian MP Mario Marazziti’s heartfelt cry for African boat people (“Hope’s watery grave”, 19 October) will remain just that – a cry in the wilderness – as long as human-rights advocates continue to confine their demands to governments and expect from the public sector more funds and more action.

If the terrible conditions and overcrowding of the Lampedusa refugee centre are to be improved, and if thousands of refugees are to be given better facilities all over Italy (and Europe), Marazziti should not be content with submitting proposals to the Italian ­parliament and the European Union. He should also write to Pope Francis, another recent horrified visitor to Lampedusa, with some concrete ideas for refugee settlement. Since the Pope’s decision to live in modest accommodation, the papal apartment has presumably been vacant. The spacious rooms in the Vatican could surely accommodate at least a dozen African refugees. Further, an inventory of monasteries all over Italy (and Europe) would quickly show that facilities designed for hundreds and hundreds of monks centuries ago are now echoing with the footsteps of the few remaining residents. Pope Francis could readily issue an edict for the conversion of these facilities into proper refugee shelters. What an example for the world these measures would be!

(Professors Emeriti) Jeannie and Peter Bartha, Toronto, Canada