Greece's
opposition leader Alexis Tsipras - a radical leftist and self-described atheist
- has hailed Pope Francis as the "pontiff of the poor" after meeting
him for talks at the Vatican.
The dialogue had ranged from Europe's
economic crisis, the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, the gulf between rich
and poor and the tragedy of uncontrolled migration, he said. The
Argentinian-born pontiff agreed to meet the politician after months of
clandestine negotiations between European leftists and the Holy See.
Tsipras, 39, who stood as the bloc's
candidate for EU commissioner in the European elections, and whose Syriza party
is leading polls in Greece, presented the pope with an olive branch, the symbol
of peace. In return, Pope Francis, 77, gave Tsipras a copy of his apostolic
exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel, outlining what some have described as his
radical views on the church's role in the modern world.
"It was a meeting of the
like-minded," said Panos Skourletis, Syriza's spokesman. "The pope
has a disposition for dialogue with people of other backgrounds, outside the
church. He believes in dialogue between the church and the left."
Tsipras did not waste the opportunity to
explicate the inequities of austerity, particularly in Greece, long at the
forefront of the EU's financial crisis. "I had the chance to convey the
picture that exists at this time in Greece. To tell him that after four years
of impasse and unfair austerity policies, the majority of Greek people are
paying [a great price] while at the same time banks are being saved," he
said.
The pope, who experienced Argentina's
economic collapse first hand when he was bishop of Buenos Aires, was reportedly
sympathetic, agreeing that reining in budget deficits through whip-lashing
austerity was the wrong course to take. "You young politicians speak a
different language that resembles a melody of hope," he was quoted as
saying during the talks.
Tsipras’s seeming conversion to being a
fervent admirer of the church has not passed without comment. This summer, he
made a two-day visit to the all-male monastic republic of Mount Athos in what
many described as a desperate bid to improve ties with the Greek Orthodox
church and boost his mainstream credentials. But the politician, who has
steadfastly refused to marry the mother of his two young children in a
religious service, insisted on Thursday that the time had come for the European
left to build bridges with the institution.
"We agreed on the need to continue the
dialogue between the European left and the Christian church," he said.
"There is a need to create an ecumenical alliance against poverty,
inequalities, against the logic that markets and profits are above
people."
(Source: The
Guardian)
