‘Pope Francis is our saviour’, say refugee families rescued from Lesbos and taken to the Vatican

'We saw friends and relatives die in the rubble, we fled Syria because we no longer had any hope'

Pope Francis has been described as a "saviour" by the Syrian refugee families rescued from the Greek island of Lesbos and taken to the Vatican.

In what has been heralded as a hugely symbolic gesture, Pope Francis took 12 Syrians from three Muslim families with him to the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Rome.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, the families, who spent their first night in Rome at a Catholic charity, thanked the pontiff.

"We saw friends and relatives die in the rubble, we fled Syria because we no longer had any hope," said Hasan, an engineer from Damascus, who arrived in Italy with his wife Nour and two-year-old son.

"In Lesbos, we understood that we were stuck in a place that we could not leave, [we were] in a trap, a prison. He is our saviour"

On his flight back to Rome, the Pope, himself the son of Italian migrants, said: "All refugees are children of God,” adding that his actions were “a drop in the ocean".

The three families, who had initially planned to move to Germany, are now expected to seek asylum in Italy.

Their arrival brings to around 20 the number of refugees living in the Vatican, which has fewer than 1,000 inhabitants in total.

If a similar intake were to be done across Europe, six million people given asylum on the continent of 300 million.

Jane Waite, deputy director of International Rescue Committee in Greece, told The Independent: “Nearly nine in 10 of the men, women, boys and girls stuck in limbo in Lesbos are fleeing war-torn countries – they have lost loved ones, their homes, every resemblance of the life they once enjoyed.

Pope Francis takes three refugee families with him to Rome

“We hope the Pope’s message of solidarity will have an impact on the hearts and minds of European citizens and policy-makers, and help bring about much needed change that will allow safe routes into Europe for those in desperate need of sanctuary.”

Thousands of people are trapped on Lesbos following the controversial EU-Turkey deal, under which all asylum seekers arriving over the Aegean are detained as they await their fate. More than 1.1 million people have crossed clandestinely from Turkey to Greece since the start of 2015, with hundreds drowning en route.

Last year, the Pope appealed to every Catholic diocese in Europe to take in a refugee family.