Pope Francis: Trump’s G20 Alliance with Putin Is Very Dangerous For the Migrants
POPE Francis has hit out against the potential of a “very dangerous alliance” at the G20 summit among world powers including the United States and Russia.
The Pope fears US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “a distorted vision of the world”, claiming any formed alliance could harm the poor and migrants.
He lumped the pair in with other “dangerous alliances” of China and North Korea, and Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad in the war in Syria.
He told the Italian daily la Republica’s founder Eugenio Scalfari: “The G20 worries me, it hits migrants in countries in half of the world and it hits them even more as time goes by.
The Pope stressed the greatest danger concerns immigration, with “the poor, the weak, the excluded and the marginalised” juxtaposed with “those who… fear the invasion of migrants”.
Yesterday, Mr Trump described his first meeting with Mr Putin at the G20 summit as “tremendous”.
The summit, a meeting with the leaders of the world’s top 20 economies, is hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and held in Hamburg.
Mr Trump told reporters: “President Putin and I have been discussing various things and I think it’s going very well.
“We’ve had some very, very good talks. We’re going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue.
“But we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia for the United States and everybody concerned.”
The meeting focussed heavily on a newly announced ceasefire deal for south west Syria, agreed by the US, Russia and Jordan.
On Friday, the Pope urged G20 leaders to work towards a “more inclusive and sustainable economic growth”.
He also highlighted the plight of some 30 million people trapped in conflict and famine, especially in Africa and Yemen.
Talks at the summit are set to be focussed on climate change, North Korea, trade and the European migrant crisis.
Mrs Merkel is expected to lead discussions on how Europe will cope with the huge influx of migrants since 2015, and will host talks over trade and climate change.
Pope Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, has said Europe should adopt a federal structure as soon as possible “or it won’t count for anything in the world”.
In a message to the Chancellor on Friday, the Pope urged Mrs Merkel to think about the poor and refugees when she goes forward with policy-making.
He wrote: “In the minds and hearts of government leaders, and at every phase of the enactment of political measures, there is a need to give absolute priority to the poor, refugees, the suffering, evacuees and the excluded.”
The 79-year-old from Argentina urged Europe not to se migrants as criminals in May.