ROME - The Community of Sant'Egidio, the Rome-based lay Christian organisation, has organised and promoted vigils throughout Italy and the whole of Europe, to take place on Monday, in memory of the victims of the latest migrant shipwreck off the coast of Libya. Sant'Egidio's own vigil will be held at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere at 7:30 p.m. (also available by streaming at www.santegidio.org).

  They said, "in the face of this umpteenth tragedy at sea, we feel the duty to raise our voice and our prayers so that our continent isn't stained by guilty indifference, but is faithful to its values of humanity and the defence of human rights."

  The Community of Sant'Egidio has also asked every European country, and the European community "to urgently restart a rescue network at sea, rapid and efficient, as international law requires, so as to not have to respond in future... to further crimes of the omission of rescue.

  "Regarding Libya and its detention centres, we also need urgently to open humanitarian corridors towards European corridors, with a model that Sant'Egidio, together with protestant churches and the CEI (Episcopal Conference of Italy), has already realised in the last five years, with good results regarding not only reception, but also integration."

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