Malta has written to the Pope asking him to take in a family of migrants as a “gesture of solidarity”.

Foreign Affairs Minister Evarsit Bartolo told Times of Malta that the government has called upon the Holy See to consider helping Malta. 

“This would serve as a motivational reminder for other bigger states to carry their fair share of the burden which Malta is disproportionately facing,” he said.  

In a diplomatic message known as a 'note verbale' sent to the Vatican, Bartolo said the Holy See has “the moral authority to approach EU leaders and to reiterate the importance of effective solidarity to lessen human suffering”.

Malta has closed its ports to migrant disembarkation and is instead holding those rescued on a tourist cruise boat out at sea.  

Government sources say Malta will not allow any of the migrants to disembark until other EU member states agree to take in a share.  

Pope Francis had planned to meet with the migrant community on a scheduled visit to Malta at the end of this month. However, the trip was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

In his letter to the Vatican, Bartolo also recalled the address by Pope Francis to diplomats back in 2017. 

At the time, the Pope had said “prudence on the part of public authorities does not mean enacting policies of exclusion vis-à-vis migrants, but it does entail evaluating, with wisdom and foresight, the extent to which their country is in a position, without prejudice to the common good of citizens, to offer a decent life to migrants.”

The minister said that of the 3,600 migrants that had reached the EU irregularly during the first quarter of 2020, more than one third had been disembarked in Malta.

Bartolo also drew the Holy See’s attention to the disproportionate challenges being faced by Malta as a result of the migration flow.