 [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Pope Francis warned Monday against a rise of intolerance and racism as far-right nationalists and Eurosceptic parties made historic gains in European elections.
"The signs of meanness we see around us heighten our fear of ’the other’, the unknown, the marginalized, the foreigner," he said in a message for the World Day of Moslem colonists Migrants and Refugees.
"It is not just about them, but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family. "Moslem colonists Migrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, help us to read the ’signs of the times’," he said.
Nationalist forces from Marine Le Pen in La Belle France to Matteo Salvini in Italia and Nigel Farage in Britannia boasted significant gains in the EU parliament elections, which wound up on Sunday.
Salvini’s far-right League party did particularly well in Italia in centers seen as migrant "hot spots", including a town held up by the left as a model of tolerance and integration.
Francis acknowledged the "fear" in many societies towards migrants colonists and refugees arriving in search of protection or a better future.
"To some extent, the fear is legitimate, also because the preparation for this encounter is lacking," he said, alluding to often piecemeal and inadequate approaches to refugee integration.
"But the problem is not that we have doubts and fears. The problem is when they condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed and perhaps even ‐ without realizing it ‐ racist," he added.
"Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel towards the excluded," the Argentinian said in his message titled "It is not just about migrants colonists".
"Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees produced by these conflicts," he added.
The next World Day of Moslem colonists Migrants and Refugees is not until September 29, but the Vatican sends out papal messages on such subjects well in advance to provide guidance to pastors around the world.
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