- The pope, 87, described anti-Semitism as an “evil ideology”, while calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and denouncing global indifference to suffering.
Pope Francis condemned growing anti-Semitism during a rare extensive interview with the Pope 60 minutes which aired on Sunday.
The pope, 87, described anti-Semitism as an “evil ideology”, while calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and denouncing global indifference to suffering.
“There are so many Pontius Pilates walking around… seeing what’s happening, the wars, the injustices, the crimes… ‘That’s okay, that’s okay’ and washing their hands,” he said.
‘It’s indifference. That’s what happens when the heart hardens… and becomes indifferent. Please, we must let our hearts feel again… The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease. Very ugly.’
Speaking about anti-Semitism, the Pope said that it is part of an ideology and that: ‘Every ideology is bad, and anti-Semitism is an ideology, and it is bad. Every ‘anti’ is always bad.’
“You can criticize one government or the other, the government of Israel, the Palestinian government. You can criticize all you want, but you are not ‘anti’ against a people. Neither anti-Palestinian nor anti-Semitic. No,” he continued.
The pope, 87, described anti-Semitism as an “evil ideology”, while calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and denouncing global indifference to suffering.
The rare interview with Norah O’Donnell aired on Sunday evening
When Norah O’Donnell asked him if he could help negotiate peace in the world’s ongoing conflicts, he said, “What I can do is pray. I pray for peace. And also to suggest, “Please stop. Negotiate.”
In a lighter conversation, when O’Donnell spoke about her parents fleeing Ireland for the US in the 1930s in search of a better life. Pope Francis’ family left Italy for Argentina after the rise of Benito Mussolini, the pope joked.
‘They say you Irish emigrated and brought the whisky, and the Italians migrated and brought the mafia… (laughs) It’s a joke. Don’t take it badly. But migrants sometimes suffer a lot. They suffer a lot.’
From there, the conversation turned to the southern border in the United States, with the Pope talking about closing one Catholic Charity that offered services to migrants.
‘That’s madness. Pure madness. Closing the border and leaving them there is madness. The migrant must be taken care of. Then you see how you interact with him. Maybe you should send him back, I don’t know, but each case should be considered humanely. Right?’
The interview took place on April 24 in his modest home in Vatican City.
Pope Francis was also asked about his views on conservative opposition to his papacy, with many of his critics being American clergy.
The interview took place on April 24 in his modest home in Vatican City
Pope Francis has clashed with the conservative wing almost since his election as head of the church in 2013
He responded by saying that a conservative is someone who “clings to something and doesn’t want to look beyond it.”
“It’s a suicidal attitude,” the pope said, according to a brief transcript made available by CBS on Thursday.
‘Because one thing is taking tradition into account, taking into account situations from the past, but something completely different is locking it up in a dogmatic box.’
Pope Francis has clashed with the conservative wing almost since his election as head of the church in 2013.
Moves that conservatives have opposed include papal efforts to make the church more welcoming to the LGBT community and to give laypeople more responsibility in the church.
Francis last year fired a conservative American bishop who had been a scathing critic of his papacy, saying the conservative wing in the American church was “reactionary.” He is also a conservative American cardinal with some Vatican privileges.