Pope slams ‘throwaway culture’ and ‘populist temptations’ in speech in Trieste, Italy

“Democracy is not healthy in today’s world,” Pope Francis lamented. In a speech to a thousand people gathered at the Trieste Congress Centre for the closing of the 50th Social Weeks organised by the Italian Catholic Church, the pontiff deplored the “throwaway culture” and the “ideological and populist temptations”, responsible according to him for a “crisis of democracy.”

Without citing any country as an example, the Pope warned against “ideologies (…) seductive.” “Some people compare them to the one who played the flute at Hamelin. They seduce but lead you to deny yourself,” he stressed, referring to the German tale.

Before the European elections, bishops from several countries had already expressed concern about the rise of populism and nationalism in Europe, while the extreme right is already in power in Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands.

The leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics also expressed his concern about the increase in abstention around the world: “I am concerned about the small number of people who will vote: what does that mean?” Inviting to “moving away from polarizations that impoverish”, Jorge Bergoglio listed the obstacles to democracy: “corruption and illegality”THE “self-referential power”, social exclusion and marginalization and indifference.

“The culture of rejection creates a city where there is no place for the poor, the unborn, the fragile, the sick, children, women, young people,” he regretted, calling for promoting participation from childhood.