Speaking to CNN, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras underlined the the significance the visits by Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the island of Lesvos in Greece, Saturday. Tsipras said the religious leaders conveyed a message of universality regarding the refugee crisis, adding that Greece was the epicentre of the message as it had offered everything it could for a humane and effective solution to the crisis, despite the economic difficulties it was facing. The Greek PM said that the symbolic gesture by the Pope to take 12 Syrian refugees to the Vatican was a message to the rest of Europe that Greece should not remain alone and the continent should remain open to all those in need of protection.