Pope decries hatred of immigrants, other faiths

Pope Francis on Saturday during a ceremony to induct new cardinals at the Vatican said an "epidemic of animosity" against people of other races or religions is hurting the weakest in society, issuing a note of caution against the rise of populist nationalism.

With just little over a week since Donald Trump was elected the next US president, which has invigorated anti-immigrant parties in Europe and elsewhere, the Pope sounded out that people should not be seen as enemies just because they were different.

“We see, for example, how quickly those among us with the status of a stranger, an immigrant, or a refugee, become a threat, take on the status of an enemy,”

“An enemy because they come from a distant country or have different customs. An enemy because of the colour of their skin, their language or their social class. An enemy because they think differently or even have a different faith,” he said.

Though not naming any country in particular, Pope Francis appeared to refer to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim behaviors that arised during the US campaign and since the election.

“How many wounds grow deeper due to this epidemic of animosity and violence, which leaves its mark on the flesh of many of the defenceless, because their voice is weak and silenced by this pathology of indifference,” the pope said.

The Pope said the Church itself was not immune to “a virus of polarisation and animosity,” an obvious reference to a public challenge by four conservative cardinals, who accused him of sowing confusion on important moral issues. 

Reuters