Pope Leo on Saturday urged world leaders to avoid dividing their electorate with “sterile simplification” to gain popularity and urged them to listen to the world’s cry for peace, in a powerful speech opening a week-long visit to Spain.
Leo, who has angered US President Donald Trump by criticizing his anti-immigration policies and war on Iran, will meet homeless people in Madrid and migrants in the Canary Islands during a visit he has said he hopes will set an example to the world about respecting “every human being”.
“Today, the temptation to gain fame by fanning the flames of discrimination seems to have increased rather than decreased, and human dignity continues to be violated,” Leo said in a speech before King Felipe VI at the Royal Palace in Madrid.
“I invite everyone to put aside the divisive and differentiating narratives of reality and your social history, to overcome sterile simplification through a fruitful appreciation of complexity.”
Technology was partly to blame for creating an environment that fostered hatred and undermined critical thinking, Leo said. The world was crying “from its depths for peace”, he added.
