Pope Francis Urges World Action to Stop More Migrant Disasters after 700 Die off Libya

Pope Francis called on world leaders and the international community on Sunday to take swift and decisive action to ensure that the death of some 700 migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Libya overnight will not happen again.

Speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square for his Sunday noon address, the Pope expressed his "most heartfelt pain" and promised to "remember the victims and their families in prayer."

"They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life," he told the crowd, departing from his prepared text.

"I make a heartfelt appeal to the international community to react decisively and quickly to see to it that such tragedies are not repeated," he said.

The latest disaster occurred when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Libyan coast on Saturday night, the latest fatalities in the ongoing Mediterranean migrant crisis, officials said.

Around 10,000 migrants who made desperate and often dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean have been saved in the past week by Italy's coastguard.

On Saturday, another batch of 450 migrants reached the Sicilian port of Mesina on an Italian naval vessel. A number of Sicilian towns already say they cannot cope with the numbers.

At his first official meeting with the new Italian president Sergio Mattarella, the Pope thanked Italy, which has borne the brunt of the rescue efforts, for welcoming migrants seeking refuge.

However, he also encouraged "broader involvement" given the "proportions of the phenomenon."

"We must not tire in our attempts to solicit a more extensive response at the European and international level," he said.

Mattarella again called on the European Union for a "decisive intervention to stop this continuous loss of human life in the Mediterranean."

The European Commission's migration spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud admitted that the commission doesn't "have a silver bullet that will make it [the situation] go away."

The previous year saw 170,000 people – a record number – cross to Italy, majority of whom are trying to escape poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East.

In another development, Pope Francis emphasized the need for women to not only be heard but also given a "recognized authority," according to a recent Time report.

In his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, he said "more weight and more authority must be given to women," both in the Church and in society.

He said that this reflects the way Jesus treated women, and urged people to work "with more creativity and boldness" to give women the recognition they deserve.

"We have not yet understood in depth what things the feminine genius can give us, that woman can give to society and also to us. Perhaps to see things with different eyes that complements the thoughts of men," said the head of the Church.

The difference between men and women was "not for opposition or subordination, but for communion and creation," said the 78-year-old pontiff.

On the questions of gender in the modern society, the Pope said the gender theory "aims to erase sexual difference" and that the removal of such is "the problem, not the solution."

Instead, the Pope said men and women complement each other and urged them to "treat each other with respect and cooperate with friendship."