Pope condemns cancel culture, links ‘fake news’ to Trump assassination attempts and climate of hate

Pope Francis has condemned what he described as a universal growth in “fake news” and how such deliberate distortions foment a climate of hate that leads to acts such as the assassination attempts against US President-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia.

His comments came in his annual speech to members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which this year occurred on 9 January, and in which the Pope lamented “the continuous creation and spread of fake news [that] distorts facts but also perceptions”.

“This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hate, undermines people’s sense of security and compromises civil coexistence and the stability of entire nations,” the Pope said.

He then highlighted the attacks in 2024 on President-elect Trump, whose inauguration will take place in less than two weeks on 20 January, and the attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. On 15 May 2024, Fico was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt in Handlová, Slovakia. Fico survived, though he has reportedly still not fully recovered.

RELATED: Cardinal Timothy Dolan to again say inauguration prayer for President Trump

Francis lamented that the new year, and the Jubilee 2025, have begun amid war and fresh terror attacks, including those in Magdeburg, Germany, and in New Orleans, USA, alongside a rise in social and political tensions across the globe.

In the new year, diplomacy has a key role to play in fostering peace and dialogue, the Pope said, outlining his vision for what he called a global “diplomacy of hope”, in which political leaders pursue the common good and prioritise the poor and oppressed.

He also lamented that society is increasingly focused on wealth and material growth, “preferring pets to children”, and condemned what he said was the loss of truth amid a loss of rational argumentation and a growing distrust of those who think differently.

“These tendencies can be amplified by the modern communications media and by artificial intelligence; they can be misused to manipulate minds for economic, political and ideological ends,” he warned.

Pope Francis also cautioned against the risks of scientific progress, which he said bring numerous benefits, but have also caused increased polarisation, narrow-mindedness, anxiety, isolation and “a simplification of reality”, particularly through the use of social media and online games.

To this end, the Pope stressed the importance of “media literacy education” in promoting critical thinking and individual growth.

Francis also stressed the importance of multilateralism and the need to find a common language in which to communicate in international settings.

He condemned what he said was “the attempt to manipulate multilateral documents – by changing the meaning of terms or unilaterally reinterpreting the content of human rights treaties – in order to advance divisive ideologies that trample on the values and beliefs of peoples”.

“It represents a form of genuine ideological colonisation that attempts, in accordance with carefully planned agendas, to uproot the traditions, history and religious bonds of peoples,” the Pope said, condemning such attempts as part of the growing global “cancel culture”.

This disproportionately effects the weak and vulnerable, including the unborn and elderly, he said, pointing to the “alleged ‘right to abortion’ that contradicts human rights, particularly the right to life”.

“All life must be protected, at every moment, from conception to natural death, because no child is a mistake or guilty of existing, just as no elderly or sick person may be deprived of hope and discarded,” he said.

Francis pointed to what he described as the increased inability of international institutions to effectively resolve conflicts or respond to contemporary challenges, having fragmented into “like-minded clubs” of those who think only in one way.

The Pope did highlight several diplomatic accomplishments and deals struck in 2024, including the renewal of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China regarding the appointment of bishops.

Noting that it was renewed for four years instead of the customary two, he called this “a sign of the desire to continue a respectful and constructive dialogue in view of the good of the Catholic Church in the country and of all the Chinese people”.

He also praised the recent diplomatic success in the resumption of negotiations surrounding the Iran nuclear deal.

The Pope also stressed the importance of fostering what he called a “diplomacy of forgiveness”, capable of overcoming hatred and violence and restoring peace.

He also pointed to the inauguration of the 2025 Jubilee of Hope. Pointing to the “diplomacy of justice”, the Pope said the Jubilee year is an ideal time “to practice justice, to forgive debts and to commute the sentences of prisoners”.

He criticised the international community for claiming to respect international humanitarian law while failing to implement it, voicing hope that the Jubilee would be an opportunity to “take active steps to ensure that inviolable human rights are not sacrificed to military needs”.

He also voiced hope that 2025 would bring meaningful efforts from the entire international community to end the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. He advocated for the return of Israeli hostages, the achievement of a two-state solution to the longstanding Israel-Palestine conflict, and for relief for the “shameful” humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Francis also advocated for the end of the global arms trade and called war “a failure” for all involved, saying the involvement of civilians, especially children, and the destruction of infrastructure “means that between the two sides only evil emerges the winner”.

“We cannot accept the bombing of civilians or the attacking of infrastructures necessary for their survival,” he said. We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.”

Pointing to various conflicts raging throughout Africa and in Myanmar, as well as social unrest in the Middle East and the Americas, including Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua, he advocated peace and respect of the right to religious freedom.

Pope Francis condemned rising anti-Semitic sentiments around the world as well as the persecution of Christians by terrorist groups in Asia and Africa, alongside what he described as “discreet” affronts to religious freedom in the West through legal norms and administrative practices that limit the rights of believers.

Francis also called for an end to slave labour, human trafficking and the drug trade, and advocated for dignified working conditions and the promotion of meaningful employment, especially for young people.

He called for a “diplomacy of freedom” in which the international community joins in eradicating the “horrid commerce” of human trafficking and cares for migrants, who are especially vulnerable to traffickers.

He repeated his call for an end to the death penalty “in every nation, since it finds no justification today among the instruments capable of restoring justice”, adding, “there is no debt that allows anyone, including the State, to demand the life of another”.

Greater efforts needed to be made to fight the climate crisis, the Pope said, and advocated for debt forgiveness, asking wealthier nations to forgive debts that poorer nations will never be able to repay, thus enabling them to prioritise social development.

Francis closed his speech by voicing the hope that the year of 2025 for the world would “be truly a year of grace, abounding in truth, forgiveness, freedom, justice and peace!”

RELATED: President Biden’s last-minute and very Catholic move

Photo: Pope Francis addresses members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto.)

The post Pope condemns cancel culture, links ‘fake news’ to Trump assassination attempts and climate of hate first appeared on Catholic Herald.

The post Pope condemns cancel culture, links ‘fake news’ to Trump assassination attempts and climate of hate appeared first on Catholic Herald.