Pope Francis on Monday urged fraternal dialogue in politics, rather than hostile negotiations. “Politics is above all the art of meeting,” Francis told the French ecumenical Chemin Neuf Community.
“Certainly this meeting must be lived welcoming the other and accepting his difference, in a respectful dialogue. But as Christians there is more: since the Gospel asks us to love our enemies, I cannot be satisfied with a superficial and formal dialogue like those negotiations, often hostile, between political parties.”
Bergoglio went on to state, “We are called upon to live the political meeting as a fraternal meeting, above all with those who agree with us the least; and that means seeing in those we are dialoguing with a true brother, a child loved by God”.
