
Pope Francis today greeted a dozen Syrian refugees on their arrival in Rome after he rescued them from a camp in Lesbos following a visit to the Greek island to highlight the humanitarian crisis.

Three families of Syrian refugees boarded the Pontiff's aircraft shortly after 1pm at the end of his lightening visit to Lesbos.

A Vatican spokesman said: 'The Pope has desired to make a gesture of welcome regarding refugees, accompanying on his plane to Rome three families of refugees from Syria, 12 people in all, including six children.'

The Vatican said Pope Francis wanted to 'make a gesture of welcome' to the three families who arrived in the camp before the new EU deal with Turkey was implemented on March 20.

It is understood that paperwork for the 12 people, including six children, was arranged in advance.

Two of the families are from the Syrian capital Damascus, while the third is from the ISIS stronghold of Deir el-Zour in the north of the country, near the frontier with Iraq.

Pope Francis said: 'Today I renew my heartfelt plea for responsibility and solidarity in the face of this tragic situation.'

The Vatican will take responsibility for supporting the families. But the Catholic Sant'Egidio community will take care of getting them settled initially.

While on Lesbos, Pope Francis blasted people smugglers and arms traffickers who he blamed for worsening the current refugee crisis in Europe.

Addressing a large group of asylum seekers in a reception camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Pope Francis said migrants were not numbers but people with 'faces, names and individual stories' who were prayed upon by 'unscrupulous thugs'.

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The 12 asylum seekers arrived in Rome along with the Pope shortly before 4pm today following the short flight from Lesbos

Pope Francis today greeted the three Syrian families he rescued from a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos following his visit

The six adults and six children all arrived in Lesbos before a controversial new immigration deal with Turkey was implemented

While on the flight, Pope Francis showed journalists some drawing made by children ahead of his visit to the refugee camp today

The image, which was held up by the Pope, included a crying sun, a sinking boat and five refugees crying for help as their boat sank behind them

Pope Francis brought three Syrian refugee families back to Rome with him today following his trip to the Greek island of Lesbos

Pope Francis brought a dozen Syrian asylum seekers , pictured, back to Rome with him following his visit to a Lesbos refugee camp

The refugees, pictured, are from three families, and will be resettled in Rome at the Vatican's expense according to a spokesman

The refugees joining Pope Francis all arrived on Lesbos before a new EU deal with Turkey to deport new arrivals

Pope Francis kissed a refugee baby after his arrival at the Moria camp on Lesbos this morning with Patriarch Bartholomew, left

Pope Francis was surrounded by children after his arrival in the refugee camp where he pledged to highlight their plight

Pope Francis told the asylum seekers 'you are not alone' during his brief visit to the camp in Moria on the Greek island of Lesbos

Pope Francis has been critical of the handling of the refugee crisis by the member states of the European Union

Refugees in the Moria camp warmly greeted Pope Francis during his five-hour visit to the island of Lesbos earlier today

Pope Francis, pictured arriving at the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos this morning told the asylum seekers: 'You are not alone'

Pope Francis had lunch with some asylum seekers at the Moira detention camp in Lesbos, pictured, before he returned home

The Pontiff was greeted at the camp by a large group of children, some of whom arrived in Greece without their parents.

Addressing the refugees, he said: 'You are not alone. Do not lose hope.'

The teenage boys who have made the perilous journeys from their homelands to Greece alone were lined up at the entrance, shaking the hands of the pope and two other religious leaders. Some were holding a Syrian flag.

Many refugees fell to their knees and wept as Francis approached them. Others chanted 'Freedom! Freedom!' as he passed by. Francis bent down as one young girl knelt at his feet sobbing uncontrollably. A woman told the pope that her husband was in Germany, but that she was stuck with her two sons in Lesbos.

'Refugees are not numbers, they are people who have faces, names stories and need to be treated as such,' Francis tweeted.

He urged the European Union to change its policy towards the migrants. He said: 'We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity.'

The pope's visit to the island, which has seen the majority of the arrivals of migrants heading into Europe, is highly symbolic. It comes shortly after the European Union began deporting new arrivals back to Turkey under a controversial deal meant to stem the refugee flow.

The pope then meet men and women who have fled their homelands seeking refuge in Europe. Some wept as they met the pope.

Refugees from Pakistan who are being held in the camp and facing deportation to Turkey created a banner pleading for help from Europe

Pope Francis addressed the refugees at the Moria reception centre in Lesbos where he told them that they were not alone

Pope Francis used his brief trip to highlight the humanitarian crisis on Lesbos resulting from the Sryian conflict

Pope Francis urged the international community to deal with the ongoing crisis and treat people in a way worthy of 'common humanity'

A migrant handed Pope Francis a note as she shook hands with the pontiff during his visit to the Moria refugee camp this morning

Members of the Yazdi Christian community, who have been purged by ISIS pleaded with Pope Francis today for help

Pope Francis, pictured today urged the European Union to treat refugees 'in a way that is worthy of our common humanity'

A small child clutched by his mother, who appeared to be tearful at sight of the Pope, kissed the Pontiff's hand during his visit to Lesbos

Dozens of teenage migrants also turned out to shake hands with the Pope, who looked delighted to meet them as he made his way through the camp

The Pope smiles as he greets two young migrants, who look delighted to meet him, during a visit to the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island

The Pontiff shakes hand with another man as he is escorted by Patriarch Bartholomew into the camp early on Saturday morning

'GOOD MANNERS' MEETING BETWEEN POPE AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Saturday's meeting with refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos came as the Pope insisted an earlier meeting with U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was just 'good manners'. The pair had met at the Pope's residence before he departed for Greece, sparking claims of political interference. But the Pope said: 'Mr Sanders knew that I was leaving and he was kind enough to greet me. 'I greeted him and his wife and another couple who were with them and staying at Santa Marta. Nothing more. 'It was a matter of politeness and if anybody thinks that greeting somebody amounts to meddling in politics, they should go find a psychiatrist.' Mr Sanders agreed and said: 'I just conveyed to him my admiration for the extraordinary work he is doing raising some of the most important issues facing our planet and the billions of people on the planet and injecting the need for morality in the global economy.' Advertisement

One man wept uncontrollably and wailed as he knelt down before Francis on Saturday and said: 'Thank you, God. Thank you. Please Father, bless me.'

Children offered Francis drawings and the pope praised one little girl for her artwork, saying 'Bravo. Bravo.' Then as he handed it off to his staff he stressed: 'Don't fold it. I want it on my desk.'

As he walked by them, shaking hands with the men and bowing to the women, the refugees shouted out their homelands: 'Afghanistan.' 'Syria.'

One little boy ducked his head through a fence to kiss Francis' ring.

Pope Francis said: 'This is a voyage marked by sadness, a sad voyage,' the pope told reporters during the flight from Rome. We will witness the worst humanitarian disaster since the Second World War. We will see so many people who are suffering, who are fleeing and do not know where to go.

'And we are also going to a cemetery, the sea. So many people never arrived.'

Greek Prime Minister Alex Tspiras greeted Pope Francis upon his arrival on Lesbos.

During a brief formal meeting, he spoke about the efforts made by the Greek people in dealing with the refugee crisis.

He said: 'I am proud of this, particularly at a time when some of our partners - even in the name of Christian Europe - were erecting walls and fences to prevent defenceless people from seeking a better life.

'That is why I consider that your visit is historic and important.'

He said the pope's visit 'is a very important opportunity to show the need to stop the war, the taking advantage of people and to give the possibility of a legal route for these people who leave their homes and search for a better future in Europe'.

A group of about 200 people held a brief protest near the scene where Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew I and Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos II held a prayer ceremony and tossed floral wreaths into the sea in memory of the refugees and migrants who died trying to reach Europe.

The protesters were chanting 'No Borders, No Nation. Stop Deportation'.

Pope Francis, pictured, used his lightening visit to criticise those who are exploiting the humanitarian crisis such as people smugglers

The Vatican confirmed a dozen refugees accompanied Pope Francis back to Rome at the end of his brief visit to Lesbos

Pope Francis, pictured earlier today on Lesbos, held a child during his brief visit to Lesbos where he highlighted the refugee crisis

A migrant fell to his knees as he greeted Pope Francis during today's five-hour visit to the Greek island of Lesbos

Moments earlier, police detained a woman attempting to display a banner inside the enclosure of the crowd gathered to watch the ceremony. As she was being led away, the woman said she was a volunteer working in Lesbos on the refugee issue.

The Vatican official in charge of migrants, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio attacked the EU-Turkey plan, claiming it essentially treats migrants as merchandise that can be traded back and forth and doesn't recognise their inherent dignity as human beings.

The visit is meant to highlight the plight of refugees, thank the Greek people who have welcomed them in, and to show a united Christian response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding.

Hours before Francis arrived, the European border patrol agency Frontex intercepted a dinghy carrying 41 Syrians and Iraqis off the coast of Lesbos. The refugees were detained and brought to shore in the main port of Mytilene.

Pope Francis and the Orthodox leaders threw wreathes into the sea to commemorate the migrants lost at sea

Pope Francis, pictured with Patriarch Bartholomew, right, threw wreaths into the sea to commemorate those migrants lost at sea

Pope Francis made the gesture, along with the representatives of the Orthodox church, during his lightening visit to Lesbos

Pope Francis attacked the European Union's handling of the refugee crisis and the plan to deport people to Turkey from the camp: 'We hope that the world will heed these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and respond in a way worthy of our common humanity'

Refugees held banners calling for freedom during Pope Francis' trip to Lesbos this morning to highlight the humanitarian crisis

The migrants are held in a camp on Lesbos behind a razor wire fence with locked and bolted gates to prevent them escaping

One migrant child painted a Syrian flag and pushed it through a gap in the fence of the migrant camp on Lesbos

Also ahead of the visit, municipal crews scrubbed the walls of the capital and port after graffiti reading 'Papa Don't Preach' was sprayed in black at several points on the seafront in Mytilene. A handful of senior Orthodox clergy in Greece have been highly critical of Francis' trip, though the protests are nothing compared to the protests that greeted St. John Paul II's visit in 2001.

The wreath-tossing ceremony scheduled for later Saturday is a gesture Francis first made when he visited the Italian island of Lampedusa in the summer of 2013, his first trip outside Rome as pope, after a dozen migrants died trying to reach the southern tip of Europe. He made a similar gesture more recently at the U.S.-Mexican border, laying a bouquet of flowers next to a large crucifix at the Ciudad Juarez border crossing in memory of migrants who died trying to reach the U.S.

'He is slightly provocative,' said George Demacopoulos, chair of Orthodox Christian studies at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York. Citing Francis' Mexico border visit in February, in the heat of a U.S. presidential campaign where illegal immigration took center stage, he added: 'He is within his purview to do so, but that was a provocative move.'

Before heading to the Moria refugee camp, Pope Francis held a brief formal meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right

A large group of local people welcomed Pope Francis on his flying visit to Lesbos this morning to highlight the refugee crisis

A young Yazdi child appeals for help this morning inside the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, pictured

Pope Francis tweeted his support for the refugees before flying out from Rome this morning on his flying visit to Lesbos

The Vatican insists Saturday's visit is purely humanitarian and religious in nature, not political or a 'direct' criticism of the EU plan.

The Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos II spoke Saturday during a visit to a migrant detention center on the Greek island of Lesbos along with Pope Francis and the spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

'Unfortunately it is not the first time we denounce the politics that have brought these people to this impasse,' Ieronymos said. 'We will act however, until the aberration and depreciation of the human person has stopped.'

Ieronymos was clear in his criticism of the European response to the refugee crisis, which has resulted in a deal with Turkey whereby new arrivals to Greek islands are sent back to Turkey.

'Only those who see the eyes of those small children that we met at the refugee camps will be able to immediately recognize, in its entirety, the `bankruptcy' of humanity and solidarity that Europe has shown these last few years to these, and not only these, people,' he said.

He closed his speech by calling on the United Nations to address 'this tragic situation that we are living.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I raises a baby during the visit of Pope Francis to Lesbos earlier today

Many of the migrants who greeted Pope Francis at the Moira refugee camp today are facing deportation to Turkey

It is believed Pope Francis will take 10 asylum seekers from the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos back to Rome with him this afternoon

Pope Francis was greeted on the tarmac upon his arrival in Lesbos by the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church, pictured

An armed guard stood talking on the phone while standing on a wall overlooking the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos

But spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters that Francis' position on Europe's 'moral obligation' to welcome refugees is well-known, and that the EU-Turkey deportation deal certainly has 'consequences on the situation of the people involved.'

The Vatican official in charge of migrants, Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, was even more explicit, saying the EU-Turkey plan essentially treats migrants as merchandise that can be traded back and forth and doesn't recognize their inherent dignity as human beings.

The March 18 EU-Turkey deal stipulates that anyone arriving clandestinely on Greek islands on or after March 20 will be returned to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. For every Syrian sent back, the EU will take another Syrian directly from Turkey for resettlement in Europe. In return, Turkey was granted concessions including billions of euros to deal with the more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees living there, and a speeding up of its stalled accession talks with the EU.

Pope Francis spent approximately five hours on Lesbos before returning to Rome with three Sryian Muslim migrant families

Protesters outside the camp condemned the deal between the European Union and Turkey over the deportation of migrants

Ankara has agreed to accept refugees deported from the EU if Europe resettles Syrian migrants already based in Turkey

Pope Francis was greeted on the tarmac at Lesbos by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the start of the pontiff's five-hour visit

Pope Francis, pictured arriving in Lesbos this morning, where he has announced he will take home a dozen refugees from the camp

Human rights groups have denounced the deal as an abdication of Europe's obligations to grant protection to asylum-seekers.

The son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made the plight of refugees, the poor and downtrodden the focus of his ministry as pope, denouncing the 'globalization of indifference' that the world shows the less fortunate.

Aside from the inherently political nature of the trip, it also has a significant religious dimension. Francis will be visiting alongside the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and the head of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Athens Archbishop Ieronymos II.

Lombardi said the ecumenical significance of such a meeting was 'obvious' - and he credited Greece's politicians with their willingness to let the religious leaders take center stage as an 'appreciated' gesture of discretion.

Meanwhile, refugees tried to break down a barbed wire border fence between Greece and Macedonia on Saturday afternoon

The seven-strong group of male refugees grabbed hold of the wire in the lower part of the fence and also pulled at the metal bars

Despite the chance of injury being highly likely, the men pulled at the fence with their bare hands as they desperately tried to get through

By the time the group had successfully managed to pull the border fence down enough, police had arrived to make sure they did not get through

The man, dressed in a grey long-sleeved top and jeans with a pink towel around his face, gave up after a couple of minutes and jumped down from the structure

England's top Catholic cleric blasts David Cameron's Syrian refugee programme branding it a 'great disappointment'

The Syrian refugee resettlement programme set up by David Cameron is a 'great disappointment', the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has said.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said Britain's response to the crisis was 'going very slowly' and called for a major increase in the number of people being taken in.

Asked if he believed governments needed to show more humanity, the archbishop of Westminster replied: 'I do.'

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, centre, attacked David Cameron's response to the Syrian refugee crisis branding it a 'great disappointment'

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we have the resources as a very rich country. Think of a country like the Lebanon and some of the other Middle Eastern countries where they have a proportion of refugees present which represents 30-40 per cent of the population and they cope.

'We are a very rich country and I think with a greater cohesiveness between a spirit of willingness that is there among many and mechanisms which governments can put into place, we could be doing more.'

He added: 'There are aspects of the government policy that are commendable but I've said surely that can be speeded up. Surely in the first year we can see really how many could be taken and then multiply that by five.

'At the moment it's going very slowly and it's a great disappointment.'

The Prime Minister announced plans to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in Britain at the height of the crisis. The scheme will cost more than half a billion pounds, the Government revealed earlier this week.

Cardinal Nichols dismissed suggestions that the UK should not be taking in refugees because some Britons are struggling to make ends meet.

He told the programme: 'I don't think the struggle of people in the destroyed villages in and around Mosul and other parts of Syria, those struggles are not the same as our struggles.'