Roman Catholic Pope Francis has sharply criticized the European Commission's controversial attempts to make official communication "more inclusive", comparing recently withdrawn guidelines for the use of terms such as "Christmas" and "Christian" with the actions of historical dictatorships.
"In history, many, many dictatorships have tried to do something like this. "Think of Napoleon, think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist dictatorship," the 84-year-old Catholic leader told reporters Monday on a plane returning to the Vatican from a trip to Greece and Cyprus. This is something that "has not worked throughout history."
The pope's remarks came after the European Commission abruptly withdrew its 30-page leadership last week to ensure that no European feels excluded from EU communications following a storm of criticism that staff members "should avoid they accept that everyone is a Christian ”and celebrate Christmas.
The pope condemned what he called "diluted secularism" and called on the EU to reflect on the ideals of its founders, according to a transcript of his comments.
Brussels must "be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization, which could lead to the division of countries and [cause] the failure of the European Union," Francis said. "The European Union must respect the internal structure of each country, its diversity and not try to make them equal - I don't think it will do that, it was not its intention, but it must be careful."
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