Papal message of tolerance

POPE Benedict XVI yesterday asked French pilgrims to welcome people of all origins, days after France repatriated more than 200 Roma and Gypsies in a crackdown.

The Pope said yesterday’s scriptures were “an invitation to know how to accept legitimate differences among humans, just like Jesus came to pull together men from every nation and speaking every language.”

France flew Roma and Gypsies to Romania on “a voluntary basis” on Thursday and Friday in exchange for grants of €300 per person.

But any foreign-born Roma caught up in Sarkozy’s crackdown on illegal Gypsy camps who refused to take a flight will be issued orders to leave France within a month, without the handout.