VATICAN CITY (CNS): When Mbengue Nyimbilo Crepin told Pope Francis of his harrowing journey to Italy and about the deaths of his wife and six-year-old daughter in the desert along the border between Libya and Tunisia, Pope Francis told him on November 17 he had been praying for them since July.
Nyimbilo, known as “Pato,” sobbed as he shared the story of his family being forced to leave Tunisia, crossing the desert to Libya on foot. He collapsed but urged his wife and daughter to continue.
He eventually made it to Libya, but then he saw photos on social media of his wife and child dead in the desert, according to a report in July by Associated Press. Libyan border guards said they found a dozen migrants dead in the desert after Tunisia expelled them.
Meeting Pato and a group of 25 people from Mediterranea Saving Humans, an organisation that networks to operate rescue boats and assist newcomers to Italy, Pope Francis said he had read Pato’s story in the Italian Catholic newspaper, Avvenire, in July and had seen the photo.
“He said he had been praying for them since July,” Father Mattia Ferrari, the organisation’s chaplain, said after the meeting.
The group, also accompanied by Michael Cardinal Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, spent about an hour with the pope at his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Several were able to share their stories with the pope, Father Ferrari said.
