A limping Pope Francis has arrived in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta for a pandemic-delayed weekend visit, aiming to draw attention to Europe’s migration challenge that has become more stark with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Francis for the first time used a lift to descend from the ITA aircraft on to the tarmac in Malta, and was seated during his popemobile tour of Valletta rather than standing.

The accommodations were a sign that the painful knee inflammation he has been suffering for months has become worse.

While on the island, Francis is likely to encourage Europe’s embrace of Ukrainian refugees while also urging countries to extend the same welcome to migrants from Libya and elsewhere.

Malta, the European Union’s smallest country with half a million people, has long been on the front line of the flow of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean. It has frequently called on its bigger European neighbours to shoulder more of the burden receiving would-be refugees.

Francis has frequently echoed that call, and will link it this weekend to the welcome the Maltese once gave the Apostle Paul who, according to biblical account, was shipwrecked off Malta in around AD 60 while en route to Rome and was shown unusual kindness by the islanders.

Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said migration will top the agenda for Francis’s trip and said Europe’s reception of Ukrainian refugees was “truly admirable”.

“I hope that this tragic experience can also really help to grow, to increase sensitivity also towards the other migration, the one that comes from the south,” he told Vatican Media.

The two-day visit was already going to be challenging for 85-year-old Francis, who has had increasing trouble walking due to an inflamed ligament in his right knee.

He has struggled in recent days to stand up from his chair and climb stairs, and his limping gait from sciatica has appeared more pronounced.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the elevator was decided on in the past day to avoid subjecting the pontiff to unnecessary strain.

Francis had been due to visit Malta in May 2020, but postponed the visit after the coronavirus pandemic hit. The rescheduled trip comes as the Catholic Church in the overwhelmingly Catholic country prepares for its first in-person Easter Week celebrations in two years.