Following his April 19th Regina Caeli address, Catholic Culture reported that he said: "I make a heartfelt appeal to the international community to react decisively and quickly to see to it that such tragedies are not repeated."
"They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war.
"They were looking for a better life."
He also requested prayers after a migrant ship capsized on Sunday, where as many as 700 people are thought to have drowned off the coast of Libya.
On Monday 20th April three people, including a child, died when a boat carrying migrants ran aground off the Greek island of Rhodes.
There were also reports of distress calls made from two other ships in the Mediterranean, thought to be carrying around 150 and 300 people each.
EU foreign ministers will meet to discuss the crisis, and David Cameron has said he will attend a summit in Brussels, on Thursday.
Bishop Nunzio Gallantino, the secretary-general of the Italian bishops' conference, is reported to have said Europe is "elegantly washing its hands" in the face of a continuing crisis.
It has been reported that Italy has taken in more than 20,000 migrants since the start of the year, and is asking for help from other European nations.
Kate Allen is Amnesty International UK Director. She said: "The equivalent of five passenger planes full of people have drowned last week alone, and this is only the start of the summer. If they had been holiday makers, instead of migrants, imagine the response."
She plans to travel to Lampedusa on Wednesday, an Italian island in the Mediterranean sea.
"There is an emergency in the Mediterranean and all of Europe needs to respond to it. History will judge us for turning our backs, while desperate people drowned.
"The floating bodies of these desperate fathers, mothers and children are Europe's shame."
Bishop Patrick Lynch, the Bishop for Migration at the Department for International Affairs, Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said:
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the men, women and children dying almost daily in the Mediterranean Sea as they desperately search for a safer life in Europe.
We call on all EU member states to involve themselves in the relief efforts and to work collaboratively to find a swift, just, effective and compassionate solution to these humanitarian disasters."
