VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis warned against what he called a “virus of polarization” and hostility in the world targeting people of different nationalities, races or beliefs, as he led a ceremony Saturday giving the Roman Catholic Church 17 new cardinals from six continents.
The consistory ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica formally inducted the churchmen into the cardinals’ ranks.
Francis used his homily to also caution the new “princes of the church,” as cardinals are sometimes called, to guard against animosity creeping into the church as well, saying “we are not immune from this.”
The pope spoke of “our pitiful hearts that tend to judge, divide, oppose and condemn” and cautioned somberly against those who “raise walls, build barriers and label people.”
Earlier this year, when asked about the plan by Donald Trump, then a Republican U.S. presidential candidate and now president-elect, to build a wall to keep Mexicans and others from illegally entering the U.S., the pope replied that anyone advocating building walls isn’t a Christian.
Francis, in a message a few days earlier to U.S. bishops, had urged them to help heal a society facing growing polarization.
On Saturday, after receiving his red hat, Mexican Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Tlalnepantla, expressed concern about Trump’s plans, including deporting large numbers of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, soon after assuming the presidency.
“You can’t divide a family. You can’t divide a community. You can’t divide the world,” the prelate said in reply to a question by the Associated Press about Trump. The Mexican churchman added: “One thing is the election campaign. Another thing is reality.”
In Saturday’s homily, Francis commented on how “we see, for example, how quickly those among us with the status of the stranger, an immigrant, or a refugee, become a threat, take on the status of an enemy. An enemy because they come from a distant country, or have different customs. An enemy because of the color of their skin, their language, or social class.”
He added: “The virus of polarization and animosity permeates our way of thinking, feeling and acting.”
Francis also lamented the tendency to “demonize” one’s opponents, “so as to have a ‘sacred’ justification for dismissing them.”
Cardinals serve as papal advisers and someday elect popes’ successors. Popes look to cardinals who share their approach to the church’s mission in the world.
Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin is among the newly made cardinals. Tobin defied the governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, by welcoming Syrian refugees. Tobin in January will become archbishop of Newark, N.J., while Pence will be installed as U.S. vice president.
Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, after being made a cardinal at Saturday’s ceremony, said the church has a special role in trying to bring people together across the political spectrum.