Face-to-face with alarming migrant crisis: Pope Francis set to visit Lesbos

'We risk our lives to come here, we don't want to go back to Turkey because they are going to send us back to Pakistan.'

In keeping with his call for compassion, Pope Francis will be traveling to the Greek island of Lesbos to come face-to-face with the migrant crisis that led the EU to make a controversial deportation deal with Greece.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - News of the Pontiff's visit was relayed by a government source in Athens, who stated: "The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with (them) to the island of Lesbos."

Pope Francis has openly discussed the migrant crisis on several occasions and has repeatedly called for the nations of the world to help.

The European Union and Greece enacted their controversial deportation deal earlier this week, with 202 Turkish migrants sent back to the country they risked their lives to flee.

Of the migrants sent back to Turkey, most were those who refused to apply for asylum in Greece.

"We risk our lives to come here, we don't want to go back to Turkey because they are going to send us back to Pakistan," a Pakistani migrant told AFP, "We don't want to apply for asylum in Greece, we want to go to Germany."

As Greece continues to face overcrowded registration and asylum centers, concerns of whether migrants being deported before they could access asylum procedures looms over the overcrowded population.

Though the first round of deportations were reported to have gone smoothly, the next day UN Refugee Agency representative Philippe Leclerc explained, "We are concerned that 13 people, most of them Afghans, who expressed the wish to request asylum were unable to be registered in time."

Though the deal adheres to a "one in, one out" policy, it is unlikely migrants will be rightfully deported back to Turkey.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis continues to stand with the migrants. Earlier this year the pontiff spoke to Europe to say: "Over the past year Europe has witnessed a great wave of refugees - many of whom died in the attempt - a wave unprecedented in recent history, not even after the end of the Second World War."

He hailed migrants from Asia and Africa who traveled to Europe as "a beacon" for principals such as values "inherent in human nature.

"There should be no loss of the values and principles of humanity, respect for the dignity of every person, mutual subsidiary and solidarity, however much they may prove, in some moments of history, a burden difficult to bear."

The Pope's visit is set for April 14 or 15. Though no further details are available, many hope his visit will include a meeting with EU leaders to discuss the controversial deal between the European Union and Greece to deport migrants back to Turkey.

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