Pope Francis To US: “Don’t Turn A Blind Eye To Racism”

Reuters reports:

In his first public remarks on the U.S. protests, Pope Francis urged people not to “tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form” and called for “national reconciliation and peace.”

“Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd,” he said in Italian during a live-streamed general audience Wednesday morning.

“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.” But he stressed the need to recognize that violence “is self-destructive and self-defeating,” quoting Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.