Migration: Pope sides with Africa on European exploitation

Pope Francis has affirmed that Europe exploited Africa, under the guise of colonisation.

He stated this in a book, Politics and Society, said to contain the transcripts of an unusually long series of 12 conversations between the pope and the French sociologist, Dominique Wolton, founder of the Institute of the Sciences of Communication of the CNRS in Paris, and due for publication, on September 6, 2017.

According to www.cruxnow.com, in the tell-all conversation, Pope Francis also opened up about the women that have influenced him, Christian-Muslim relations, abortion, same-sex unions, among other issues.

Speaking on the issue of migration, Pope Francis said: “The problem starts in the countries from which migrants are from. Why do they leave their land? Because of the lack of jobs or because of war. These are the two main reasons. The lack of jobs, because they were exploited – I am thinking of the Africans. Europe exploited Africa. I don’t know if we can say it! But certain European colonisation… yes, they exploited.

“The first thing we need to do, as I said at the United Nations, at the European Council and the entire world, is to find sources to create employment, investments. It’s true that Europe must invest also in its own home. There is an issue of unemployment here also. The other reason for migration is war. We can invest, people can have a place to work and not have to leave, but if there is war, they will still have to escape. Who makes war? Who hands out weapons? We do.”

He also spoke about women who influenced him, cited examples such as his grandmothers, and  those he referred to as “former little girlfriends,” noting that “The ones I met helped me a lot in my life when I needed to confide myself,” the pope said, adding, “to have always been in touch with women has enriched me.

“I have learned, even in adulthood, that women see things differently from men,” and that it is important “to listen to both,” Pope Francis said.

He also admitted to having been greatly influenced by a communist female militant, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, who founded a movement of mothers who denounced the killing of their children by the regime in Argentina, as well as his psychoanalyst, who he consulted between 1978 and 1979, which were trying years for Pope Francis as he was transitioning from the difficult task of provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Argentina to rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel.

Noting that priests had been extended the ability to forgive abortion, he admonished against trivialising abortion, describing as a “grave sin” and the “homicide of an innocent.”

He restated the church’s position on same-sex relations, noting that marriage was between a man and a woman, and called on Muslims to have a critical study of the Koran.

“I believe it would be good for them to have a critical study of the Koran, as we did with our Scriptures. The historical and critical method of interpretation will help them evolve, ” he said.