Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

ROME (CNS) -- Spain has announced it will let a ship holding 629 migrants and refugees, who were rescued from the Mediterranean, dock on its shores, after Italy and Malta refused to accept the vessel.

Doctors Without Borders operating on the Mediterranean Sea tweeted June 11 that among those on board were seven pregnant women, 15 people with serious chemical burns, several suffering from near drowning and hypothermia, and 123 unaccompanied minors.

The ship Aquarius had been on standby since June 10, waiting for permission to dock at a nearby port of safety. The Aquarius had rescued hundreds of people June 10 from unsafe rubber boats -- one of which collapsed during the night. The ship also took in another 400 people rescued by Italian vessels.

The Italian minister of the interior, Matteo Salvini, announced June 10 that all Italian ports would be closed to the rescue boat after Maltese authorities refused to allow the ship to dock, saying international law required it to dock in Italy.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced later June 11 that his country would grant the Aquarius permission to dock for "humanitarian reasons. It is our duty to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a safe port to these people."

Meanwhile, the Rome-based Sant'Egidio Community called on Italy to remain faithful to its traditional values, starting with the duty to save human lives that are in danger.

In a June 11 press release, it also urged other European Union nations to fulfill their responsibilities, reminding them that rescue ships are allowed to dock in other countries bordering the Mediterranean, not just Italy and Greece.

Jesuit Father Camillo Ripamonti, president of "Centro Astalli," the Jesuit Refugee Service refugee center in Rome, criticized "demonstrations of power" and putting politics before the lives of migrants, in a statement released June 11.

"To abandon innocent people at sea can never be considered a political strategy," but is rather a serious human rights violation, which Italy will be called to answer for, he said.

The Italian branch of Save the Children also criticized holding children and other vulnerable people "hostage" in political disputes between nations. It decried prolonging the trauma of people who had already suffered while in Libya and during their unsafe voyage on the sea.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV has appointed the French archbishop of Chambéry, Thibault Verny, as the new president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. He succeeds Cardinal Seán O’Malley, 81, the emeritus archbishop of Boston.
Gerard O’ConnellJuly 05, 2025
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with other members of the House July 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington after final passage of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill. (OSV News photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)
“Deep cuts” to SNAP and Medicaid will “inflict real suffering on these families…. SNAP and Medicaid are not luxuries, they are lifelines for millions of children across our country.”
Kevin ClarkeJuly 03, 2025
It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children.
The Vatican has named the judges that will preside over the trial of disgraced Father Marko Rupnik.