Pope says the world is at war
‘A war of money, dominion over people, resources’
• Pope Francis warned gri mly Wednesday that the world was at war, but cautioned against labelling it a war among religions.
The Pope was s peaking the day after an elderly French priest was murdered as he celebrated mass by two assailants who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Asked about the slaying of the priest, Francis replied: “It’s war, we don’t have to be afraid to say this.”
He then sought to avoid any misunderstanding of his definition of war. “I only want to clarify that, when I speak of war, I am really speaking of war,” he said. “A war of interests, for money, resources, dominion of peoples.
“I am not speaking of a war of religions. Religions don’t want war. The others want war.”
He also reiterated earlier remarks likening the current violence to a Third World War in “segments.”
The Pope’s spokesman later elaborated on the remarks about a world in war. “He wanted to specify very clearly, he doesn’t mean a war of religions,” the spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said.
The Pope was speaking at the start of his first trip to Eastern Europe, where antimigrant sentiments have been rising. He encouraged Europe to welcome refugees from war, hunger and religious persecution and called for compassion.
Francis is celebrating World Youth Day in Poland, where the government has shut the doors to migrants and many fear that accepting Muslim refugees would threaten the nation’s security and its Catholic identity.
As he started the five-day trip, he told an audience of Poland’s president, diplomats and other dignitaries that what is needed is “a spirit of readiness to welcome those fleeing from wars and hunger, and solidarity with those deprived of their fundamental rights, including the right to profess one’s faith in freedom and safety.”
While the speech had in mind the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing Syria, Iraq and other Mideast countries, as well as impoverished nations in Africa, his reference to practising one’s faith in safety could also be seen as an allusion to the slaying of Rev. Jacques Hamel by two extremists in Normandy on Tuesday.
Francis urged Polish authorities “to overcome fear” and show “great wisdom and compassion” in dealing with migrants, whose arrivals in huge numbers on Greek, Italian and other southern European shores in the last few years has strained European nations’ coffers, fuelled the popularity of anti- migrant political parties and spawned fears that terrorists could show up on the continent by blending in with the refugees.