Philip Pullella, Karolina Tagaris

ATHENS, (Reuters) – Pope Francis called for a return of “good politics” on Saturday. He said democracy had deteriorated dangerously because discontented citizens are being lured into believing that populist politicians can offer easy and unrealistic solutions.

On the last leg of his Mediterranean tour, the pope reached Athens from Cyprus, which is often referred to as the birthplace democracy.

Francis spoke at the presidential palace and quoted writers and philosophers from ancient Greece, such as Homer and Aristotle. He called for the return to politics which promotes the common good without instilling fear.

Francis stated, “We can’t avoid noting with concern today, not just in Europe, that we are witnessing the retreat from democracy.”

He called democracy a complex but essential endeavour requiring wide participation, “whereas authoritarianism is peremptory and populism’s easy answers appear attractive”.

Francis did not mention any country, however he had previously criticised several politicians including Matteo Salvini and former U.S. President Donald Trump, especially in relation to immigration.

Francis warned people to be wary of politicians who are “an obsessive seeker of popularity, in an thirst for visibility in a flurry a unrealistic promises

Pope Francis said that strengthening democracy worldwide “may be the answer to the siren song of authoritarianism; that individualism, indifference and disregard may be overpowered by concern for other people, the poor, and for creation”.

The ‘HORRENDOUS MODERN ODIESSEY’

Asylum-seekers seeking asylum in Europe from countries such as Greece, Asia, Africa and the Middle East are able to enter the Union through Greece.

He compared today’s plight with the Odyssey of the modern horrors, many of which have drowned at sea, in his speech at the presidential palace.

Francis was greeted by young children wearing traditional Greek clothing, as well as two boys from Africa and one girl from the Philippines as he took off from the plane to ride into the city on a Fiat 500. The Argentine pontiff shuns large vehicles or bulletproof cars since the beginning of his papacy, in 2013.

Francis will travel to the island of Lesbos https://www.reuters.com/world/popes-visit-greeces-lesbos-lays-bare-divisions-over-migrants-2021-12-01 for the second time on Sunday to visit a migrant reception center set up after the notorious Moria camp burned to the ground last year.

In 2016, Francis visited the island on a prior visit. He walked through Moria in 2016 and was criticized by rights groups because of its cramped and unsanitary conditions. Asylum seekers fell at his feet and wept, asking for help.

Three families of Syrian refugees were taken with him by the pope on his return flight to Rome. After his visit this week, the pope made arrangements for 50 migrants from Cyprus to be relocated to Italy.

At an emotional meeting https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-calls-healing-split-cyprus-orthodox-archbishop-attacks-turkey-2021-12-03 with asylum-seekers in Cyprus on Friday, Francis, citing conditions in Libya and elsewhere, said he had a responsibility to tell the truth about the suffering of refugees, many held in conditions he compared to those in Nazi and Soviet camps.