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One family who was transferred from Moria to the more open camp of Kara Tepe described terrible conditions inside the old prison. Filthy, uncleaned toilets. Hour-long lines and more for wretched food. Minimal health care -- even though many arrive here with injuries or conditions requiring urgent attention.

Many non-governmental organizations say the conditions amount to violations of Greece's responsibilities under international humanitarian law.

\"PHOTO:
Greek Prime Ministers Office via AP
PHOTO: Pope Francis greets migrants and refugees during a visit at the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, April 16, 2016.
>

Pope Francis cannot do very much in a practical sense to change all this.

What he can do is wield the power of symbolic action to bend the debate toward the demands of justice and of love.

So we had the extraordinary sight of the pope himself bringing with him back to Rome -- on his own plane -- three Syrian refugee families to live in the Vatican. It was in part a challenge to other world leaders: Do this.

It confirmed this pope's constantly surprising, deeply disruptive brand of global celebrity: Francis is to many almost a pope gone rogue.

But at heart, it seems, his aim is simply to be with these people, with the unwanted, the desperate, those with no place to turn. He wants to try to remind the world that government leaders, religious leaders, and we, too, must be here in the camps with them, in some form or fashion -- or we damage and degrade our own humanity.

Embarked on what many might see as a pointless or hopeless mission, it is striking to see how happy Francis is among the refugees. He loves this work. You get the unmistakable sense from him that here -- amid the filth and fear and the forlorn and the unwanted -- is where he belongs.

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