Pope Francis on Sunday decried the state of democracy and warned against “populists” during a brief visit to Trieste in Italy’s northeast on what will be his 12-day trip, the longest in Asia.
“The state of democracy in the world today is not good,” Francis said during a speech at the city’s convention center marking the closing of a national Catholic celebration.
Without naming any country, the pope warned against “ideological temptations and populists” on the day France holds a second round of parliamentary elections in which the right-wing National Rally (RN) party is expected to win the most votes.
“Ideologies are attractive. Some people compare them to the Pied Piper of Hamelin: they seduce, but they also make you deny yourself,” he said, referring to a German fairy tale.
Ahead of last month’s European Parliament elections, bishops in several countries also warned about the rise of populism and nationalism, with right-wing parties already in power in Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands.
Francis also urged people to “refrain from impoverishing polarization” and to attack “self-referential power.”
The half-day visit to Trieste, a city of 200,000 on the Adriatic Sea bordering Slovenia, was the third trip within Italy this year for the 87-year-old pope, who has suffered health problems in recent years, following visits to Venice in April and Verona in May.
Since a visit to the French city of Marseille in September 2023, the Argentine Jesuit has limited himself to domestic travel.
But he plans to spend about two weeks in Asia in September, traveling to Indonesia, Singapore and the islands of Papua New Guinea and East Timor.
He arrived in Trieste shortly before 9 am (0600 GMT) and was scheduled to meet various groups from the religious and educational sectors, as well as migrants and the disabled.
The Pope’s visit will end with a mass in the city’s main public square, after which he will leave for the Vatican in the afternoon.
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