Politicians, stop insulting each other and listen!

Politicians should lower the tone of their debates and stop insulting each other, Pope Francis said on Friday, adding that leaders should be open to dialogue with those they consider enemies, otherwise they risk "sowing the seeds of war", Patria reports.

- Insults have become commonplace, he said in an impromptu 45-minute speech at the Roma Tre University campus.

Francis, the son of Italian migrants to Argentina, also warned against anti-immigrant movements and called for newcomers to be treated as "brothers and sisters".

And while the Pope generally spoke about the need for more dialogue in society while answering questions from students on campus, he did single out politicians.

- In the newspapers, we see one insulting another, this one saying something against the other, the Pope said. "But in a society where political standards have fallen so low – and I'm talking about global society – we lose the sense of building society, of social coexistence, and social coexistence is built on dialogue," Francis emphasized.

He also spoke about "political debates on television where everyone is interrupted before they finish".

Pope Francis appealed for "the patience of dialogue".

- Wars begin in our hearts, when I am unable to open up to others, to respect others, to talk with others, to have a dialogue with others, that's how wars begin, he added.

He said that migration is not a danger but a challenge for development, and that it is important to integrate immigrants into host countries so that they retain their traditions while learning and adopting new ones in a process of mutual enrichment.

He also said that immigrants should be welcomed "primarily as brothers and sisters – people. They are men and women just like us", Pope Francis underlined in his address to students in Rome.

(Reuters)