Pope Francis Will 'Wait And See' Before Forming Opinion Of Trump

Pope Francis isn’t rushing to judgment.

In an interview published Sunday, the pope told Spanish newspaper El País that “we must wait and see” what becomes of the Donald Trump presidency and resist the urge to “judge people prematurely.”

“We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion. But being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets predicting calamities,” he said.

Francis also took the opportunity to warn against emerging populism, using the rise of Hitler as an example, NBC News noted.

“In times of crisis we lack judgment, and that is a constant reference for me,” he said. “That is why I always try to say: talk among yourselves, talk to one another. But the case of Germany in 1933 is typical, a people who were immersed in a crisis, who were searching for their identity until this charismatic leader came and promised to give their identity back, and he gave them a distorted identity, and we all know what happened.”

Pope Francis sent President Donald Trump an official telegram on Inauguration Day, urging the new president to make decisions guided by “rich spiritual and ethical values.”