Pope Francis has said he was left moved by the personal stories migrants told him during his recent visit to Malta, including their accounts of life at Libyan detention centres.

Speaking to TVM en route back to Rome, the Pope – who has previously compared Libyan migrant centres to concentration camps – flagged his visit to the Ħal Far Peace Lab. 

“I heard horror stories… all that suffering,” he said. “Migrants should always be welcomed. The problem is that all governments must declare how many they can accept, and there should therefore be an agreement on an EU level because not all countries able to take in migrants.”

In 2020, Malta and Libya agreed to set up centres in Valletta and Tripoli to coordinate against irregular migration, with former prison director Alex Dalli part of these efforts.

The deal appears to have helped stem irregular migration to Malta, with Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri recently arguing that the general lack of reference to migration during the 2022 election campaign is a testament to the work the government did behind the scene.