Pope Francis Daily

Pope Francis says he will wait and see before forming an opinion on Donald Trump in his new role as President of the United States.

“I think that we must wait and see. I don’t like to get ahead of myself nor judge people prematurely,” the pope told Spanish newspaper El País in an interview.

“We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets predicting calamities,” he said.

Pope Francis also warned Europeans against populism, saying they should not repeat the same mistakes as in the 1930s when they turned to “saviours” to resolve the economic and political crisis only to end up at war.

He said: “Crises provoke fear, alarm. In my opinion, the most obvious example of European populism is Germany in 1933 … 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.

“In times of crisis, we lack judgment, and that is a constant reference for me … That is why I always try to say: talk among yourselves, talk to one another.”