BERLIN – It is no mystery that Angela Merkel and Pope Francis adore each other. The first time the Chancellor visited the Vatican, she concluded the meeting with an irritable and warm “next time we’ll have a pizza”. Both have at heart the fight against climate change and if Bergoglio chose to make the first trip of his pontificate to Lampedusa to show his closeness to migrants, Merkel showed at the latest in the summer of 2015 how deep her solidarity is towards refugees.
Also in these days, Francis has expressed concern for the tragic situation in Afghanistan and for the fate of the refugees. But in an interview with a Spanish radio, wanting to quote the chancellor, praising her “wisdom”, Bergoglio attributed a wrong phrase to her. A comment that actually came from Vladimir Putin.
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“It is essential that the irresponsible policy of interference from outside and the construction of democracy in other countries, ignoring the traditions of the peoples, come to an end”. While the Chancellor has never spared any explicit criticism of the Americans at this stage, it is a bit brutal even for her. While it is very typical for Putin.
But given the sympathy that binds the chancellor to the pontiff, given the anger of the entire West towards Joe Biden’s reckless decision, who knows that both of them have not gotten a smile for this involuntary and innocent “fake news”.
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