Pope: I’ll judge Trump after we see what he does

In interview during inauguration, Francis warns of populists’ appeal but says he doesn’t like ‘judging people early’

By AP 22 January 2017, 5:12 am Edit

Pope Francis celebrates a Mass at the end of the Jubilee (Holy Year) of the Dominicans, inside the Basilica of St. John Lateran, in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (Giorgio Onorati/ANSA via AP)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has told an interviewer that he’ll wait to see what US President Donald Trump does before forming his opinion.

In an interview published Saturday evening by Spanish newspaper El Pais, Francis says he doesn’t like “judging people early. We’ll see what Trump does.”

Asked about populist-style political leaders emerging in the United States and Europe, Francis warned against seeking a savior in times of crisis.

He said Hitler in 1930s’ Germany “was voted for by the people and then he destroyed the people.”

Francis laments that in crises “we look for a savior to give us back identity, and we defend ourselves with walls, barbed-wire fences, from other peoples.”

He was interviewed Friday at the Vatican at the same time as Trump’s inauguration ceremony.