Pope Francis Warns Political Populists Threaten Democracy in Europe and Elsewhere

Pope Francis warned Saturday that democracy in Europe and elsewhere is being threatened by populist politicians, who appeal to disgruntled citizens with easy solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

The pope’s remarks were made during a visit to Athens, Greece, widely viewed as the birthplace of democracy, the second and last stop on a Mediterranean trip aimed at calling attention to the plight of migrants and refugees.

“We cannot avoid noting with concern how today, and not only in Europe, we are witnessing a retreat from democracy,” Francis said in a speech at the presidential palace.

Francis did not name countries or world leaders, but he cautioned people to be wary of politicians with “an obsessive quest for popularity, in a thirst for visibility, in a flurry of unrealistic promises.”

The pope said the birth of democracy thousands of years ago evolved into a “great house of democratic peoples” in the European Union, “and the dream of peace and fraternity that it represents for so many peoples.”

He said the dream is being further jeopardized by financial and other hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic, potentially fueling nationalist sentiments and making authoritarianism seem “compelling and populism’s easy answers appear attractive.”

“The remedy is not to be found in an obsessive quest for popularity, in a thirst for visibility, in a flurry of unrealistic promises…but in good politics,” Francis declared.

The pope said only multilateralism can effectively tackle poverty, the environment and other crises that confront the global community.

“Politics needs this, in order to put common needs ahead of private interests,” he said.

Some information in this report also came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

–VOA NEWS

Escaping from Scam Center on Cambodia’s Bokor Mountain

Young people being deceived into forced labor by criminal gangs, primarily involving illegal work in Chinese-controlled special zones in Cambodia, has become a pressing issue not only in Vietnam but across Southeast Asia.

Read More

UN Security Council Meets to Discuss Children and Armed Conflict

Vanessa Frazier, Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations, introduces a resolution at the Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict.

Read More

10 Shocking Revelations from Bangladesh Commission’s Report About Ex-PM Hasina-Linked Forced Disappearances

Macabre killings, casual torture, misdirection and snooping were part of “the anatomy of enforced disappearances” linked to deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, an inquiry commission said in its first report.

Read More

Migration Dynamics Shifting Due to New US Administration New Regional Laws

In 2024, there was a slowdown in the number of migrants traveling from Latin America to the United States, in part due to new policies and controls put in place in the so-called transit countries that migrants pass through on their way north. Migration dynamics are being reshaping by these measures as well as the new U.S. presidential administration’s promises of mass deportations.

Read More

UN Security Council Meets to Discuss the Maintenance of International Peace and Security and Artificial Intelligence

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America, chairs the United Nations Security Council meeting on Maintenance of International Peace and Security and Artificial Intelligence.

Read More

Winter Brings New Challenges for Residents living in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region

The front line is continually shifting in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, and Russian shelling is causing more and more damage to nearby cities.Active fighting is putting residents in danger in Dobropillia, while residents of Kostyantynivka, around 7 kilometers from the contact line, frequently have disruptions in heating fuel.

Read More

Permanent Representative of Israel Briefs Press at UN Headquarters

Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, briefs reporters prior to the United Nations Security Council meeting on the Middle East.

Read More

Hospitals Overwhelmed in Vanuatu as Death and Damage Toll Mounts from Quake

Vanuatu on Wednesday took stock of damage from a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake that killed at least 14 people and collapsed buildings in the capital, as the first trickle of international assistance began arriving in the disaster-prone Pacific nation.

Read More