Pope Francis warned against nationalism and said he was “concerned” about recent political rhetoric, comparing it to the early days of the Nazi regime.
Speaking Friday to an Italian news outlet, Pope Francis said he worried about some of the speeches he has been hearing. The comments came after right-wing Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called for snap elections and for Parliament to be dissolved.
“I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934,” Pope Francis said. “‘Us first. We … We … ’ These are frightening thoughts.”
Salvini is an immigration hardliner who has banned migrant rescue ships from docking in Italy.
Since his papacy began in 2013, the 82-year-old Pope Francis has not shied away from making political observations. Earlier this year, the Vatican announced that the pope donated $500,000 from the Peter’s Pence collection to assist caravan migrants stranded in Mexico.
In 2017, Francis warned against populism, noting that before World War II, there was “a people who were immersed in a crisis, who were searching for their identity until this charismatic leader came and promised to give their identity back, and he gave them a distorted identity, and we all know what happened.”
In March, Pope Francis criticized President Trump for pushing to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
“Builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks, will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build,” he said.
