Pope Leo has criticised the emergence of nationalist political movements and their “exclusionary mindset”, without naming a specific country or leader.

Leo, the first pope from the US, asked during a mass on Sunday with tens of thousands in St Peter’s Square that God “open borders, break down walls [and] dispel hatred”.

“There is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbours, for the exclusionary mindset that, unfortunately, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms,” he said.

The pontiff said the church “must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race”.

“People must move “beyond our fear of those who are different,” he said, saying the Holy Spirit “breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred”.

Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected on 8 May to succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of the 1.4 billion-member church.

Before becoming pontiff, Prevost was not shy about criticising Donald Trump, sharing numerous disapproving posts about the US president and the vice-president, JD Vance, on X in recent years.

The Vatican has not confirmed the pope’s ownership of the X account, which had the handle @drprevost, and was deactivated after his election.

Francis, who was pope for 12 years, was a sharp critic of Trump. He said in January that the president’s plan to deport millions of migrants in the US during his second term was a disgrace. He had previously said Trump was not Christian because of his views on immigration.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said when asked about Trump in 2016.

Leo was celebrating a mass for Pentecost, one of the church’s most important holidays.

Source: The Guardian.