Vatican official concerned by populist leaders ‘hijacking’ religion
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, is pictured in a 2019 file photo. Cardinal Tagle virtually delivered the annual Trócaire/St. Patrick’s College Lent lecture March 9, 2021. (CNS photo/Eloisa Lopez, Reuters)
By Sarah Mac Donald • Catholic News Service • Posted March 10, 2021
DUBLIN (CNS) Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, head of the Vatican’s evangelization congregation, has expressed concern over the “hijacking” of religion by populist leaders who sow division and exploit the anger of those who feel excluded.
Speaking after he delivered the 2021 Trócaire/St. Patrick’s College Maynooth annual Lenten lecture March 9 on “Caring for the Human Family and our Common Home,” the Filipino prelate warned, “There is a growing sense in the world today of divisiveness, and unfortunately religion is being used to further division; sometimes e
What populist means: There s more to the label, associated with leaders like Donald Trump, than meets the eye Perhaps one reason that the word “populist” becomes useless is because it describes a wide variety of political actors, spanning the ideological spectrum. Samrat January 20, 2021 15:08:48 IST Donald Trump. Reuters/File Photo
Joining the Dots is a fortnightly column by author and journalist Samrat in which he connects events to ideas, often through analysis, but occasionally through satire.
One of the most fractious electoral processes in the history of what is still the world’s most powerful country is scheduled to end in a few hours with the inauguration of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President of the US. Donald Trump will, at long last, leave the White House after an incendiary campaign to overturn the election
directions we never anticipated. the kinds of pressure that macron is talking about will probably be applied at the g7. this is something that no leader has contemplated just a few years ago, imposing sanctions or suspending trade deals in order to push leaders into lying on climate. i think personally it s necessary but it s also a completely different world politically than we were living in even just a few years ago with the signing of the paris accords. let s talk about politics. we have so-called populist leaders like bolsonaro in brazil, trump in the united states. we have nationalist right wing leaders in hungary and places like that in europe. they re fanning the flames, literally, the reason for immigration. it s a really toxic tendency, all around the world, especially
emerging stories we re seeing in the amazon rain forest news cycle but also more broadly. how global geopolitics is playing into that crisis, not just how well politics respond but how will climate force the hands of our leaders and perhaps push us in directions we never anticipated. the kinds of pressure that macron is talking about and is probably being applied at the g7. this is something no leaders contemplated a few years ago. suspending trade deals in order to push leaders into line on the climate. i think personally i think it s necessary. it s also a completely different world politically than we were living in even just a few years ago with the signing of the paris accords. let s talk about politics. we have so-called populist leaders in brazil, trump in the united states. we have nationalists right wing leaders in hungary and europe. they re exploiting anger of a cultural change and immigration