Pope decries leaders who play on fears

Pope Francis, who greeted a crowd in Rome Friday,
backed activists amid what he called a ‘‘gutting of democracies.’’

Just days before the US presidential election, he cautioned against ‘‘social walls’’ and ‘‘false prophets’’ fueling fear and intolerance in politics. ‘‘No tyranny finds support without tapping into our fears,’’ Francis said. ‘‘This is key. Hence, all tyranny is terrorist.’’

On the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, Francis warned against the rise of populist leaders such as Adolf Hitler. ‘‘Crises provoke fear, alarm. In my opinion, the most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933,’’ the pope said. ‘‘A people that was immersed in a crisis, that looked for its identity until this charismatic leader came and promised to give their identity back, and he gave them a distorted identity, and we all know what happened.’’

During the last couple of weeks, the pope has stood with indigenous people, arguing that they have a ‘‘right to prior and informed consent’’ about what happens to their land and that their position ‘‘should always prevail.’’ It seemed to read like a rallying cry for supporters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

He has suggested that leaders should not create ‘‘walls but bridges’’ and shouldn’t ask others to pay for them. In a fairly pointed prayer intention, he criticized people who ‘‘throw up skyscrapers’’ and ‘‘strike big real estate deals’’ but ignore those on society’s margins.

And in a new letter, Francis offered his full-throated support to activists and organizers fighting for social justice. He also reaffirmed their choice to fight tyranny amid a ‘‘gutting of democracies.’’

‘‘As Christians and all people of good will, it is for us to live and act at this moment. It is a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanization which would then be hard to reverse,’’ he said.

The draft was read this week at the opening of the US Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements in Modesto, Calif. The pope did not reference President Trump directly, but parts of his message seemed tailor-made for this moment.

‘‘The direction taken beyond this historic turning point — the ways in which this worsening crisis gets resolved — will depend on people’s involvement and participation and, largely, on yourselves, the popular movements,’’ he said.

He condemned the growth of populist and xenophobic movements, calling them a ‘‘grave danger for humanity.’’ And he attacked leaders who rely on ‘‘fear, insecurity, quarrels, and even people’s justified indignation, in order to shift the responsibility for all these ills on to a ‘non-neighbor’.’’

None of these statements are particularly shocking. But what’s important is the frequency with which the pope is speaking out. Francis has become one of the world’s staunchest defenders of immigrants, Muslims, and liberal democracy itself.