Pope Francis warns of 'dangerous alliances' among G20 powers

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Pope Francis said today that the G20 summit in Germany "worries" him because of the potential for "very dangerous alliances" among world leaders, with particularly dire consequences for migrants.

"I worry about very dangerous alliances between powers which have a distorted vision of the world: America and Russia, China and North Korea, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Syria's Bashar al-) Assad over the war in Syria," the pope said in an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

"The danger concerns immigration. Our main and unfortunately growing problem in the world today is that of the poor, the weak, the excluded, which includes migrants," he said, pointing to countries which "fear an invasion of migrants."

"This is why the G20 worries me: It mainly hits immigrants," he said.

Concerning Europe, the "richest continent in the whole world" which has faced an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees since 2015, the pope warned its leaders not to fall prey to the illusion that it is possible to seal its borders.

On Friday, Francis had urged G20 leaders to work toward "more inclusive and sustainable global economic growth," while also highlighting the plight of some 30 million people trapped in conflict and famine, especially in Africa and Yemen.