Pope Francis compared the recent recommendations to replace "happy Christmas" with "happy holidays" with the rule of the vilest dictatorships, including fascist ones, saying they threaten to exterminate historical traditions and concepts.
At the same time, Francis urged support for migrants and said that democracy is threatened both by populism and supranational governments. He called the document an “anachronism” of “watered-down secularism”.
“In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so. Think of Napoleon: from there. Think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one,” the Pope said at a press conference upon his return from his trip to Greece and Cyprus. “It is a fashion of watered-down secularism, distilled water... But this is something that throughout hasn’t worked.”
He also said that the EU “must be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization,” as “this could end up dividing countries and causing the EU to fail.”
In the internal 32-page document, announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, European officials were recommended to use inclusive language to mitigate formulations related to gender, ethnicity and orientation. In particular, employees were asked to call the Christmas period "a holiday season," since "people have different religious traditions and calendars." In addition, the text of the document contained a recommendation to abandon the greeting “ladies and gentlemen,” replacing it with “dear colleagues.”