The Pope: 'Both candidates in the US are anti-life. I would like to visit China"

"Both are against life, both the one who throws out migrants and the one who kills children". Pope Francis gave a very stern reply during the Singapore-Rome flight to an accompanying journalist who asked him what advice he could give to a Catholic voter who has to decide between a pro-life candidate and another who would like to deport 11 million migrants.

As for the crisis in the Middle East, 'I cannot qualify whether this war action is too bloody or not. But please, when you see the bodies of children killed, when you see that for the presumption that there are guerrillas you bomb a school, this is ugly, this is ugly," Pope Francis stressed. "Sometimes you say that a war is defensive or not, sometimes I think a war is too much, too much," he added. "I apologise in saying this, but I don't find that steps are being taken to make peace," he said. The Pope recalled the positive example of the meeting in Verona with a Jew and a Palestinian who became friends and promoters of peace after both had lost a close family member. "They gave a testimony of brotherhood. I will say this: brotherhood is more important than the killing of one's brother,' he said. And "in the end, he who wins the war will find defeat. War is always a defeat, always, without exception. This we must not forget. Everything that is done for peace is important'. On what is happening in the Holy Land, however, the Pope clarified that "the Holy See is working. Every day I call Gaza, the parish of Gaza. In there, in the parish and in the college, there are 600 people, Christians, Muslims, but they live like brothers. They tell me bad things, difficult things.... I am very, very grateful for what the King of Jordan is doing, he is a man of peace, he is trying to make peace, he is very good,' he added.

Bergoglio also addressed the subject of China. "China for me is an illusion, in the sense that I would like to visit China," he said. "I am happy with the dialogues with China: the result is good, also for the appointment of bishops," he noted in view of the renewal of the two-year agreement, scheduled for October. One works with good will. I have heard from the Secretariat of State on how things are going, I am happy". 'I admire China, I respect China,' the Pontiff continued. 'It is a country of a millenary culture, of an ability to dialogue, to understand each other, which goes beyond the different democratic systems it has had. I believe that China is a promise and a hope for the Church,' he added. Asked if there is room for collaboration between the Holy See and China for peace in conflict situations, "it can be done," Bergoglio said. For conflicts certainly. Right now Cardinal Zuppi is moving and has relations with China".

Finally, a passage on sexual abuse. "The sexual abuse of children, of minors, is a crime, a disgrace," he reiterated, particularly on the case of Abbé Pierre, of the French Emmaus community. "A very sore point, a very delicate one," he called it. "Good people, people who do good, then, with so much good done, one sees that one is an ugly sinner. This is our human condition. And we must not say 'let's cover up, let's cover up so that it cannot be seen'. Public sins are public, and must be condemned. For example, Abbé Pierre,' the Pontiff continued, 'is a man who did a lot of good, but also a sinner. We must speak clearly about these things, not hide them. The work against abuse is something we must all do. But not only against sexual abuse,' he said, 'also against other kinds of abuse: social abuse, educational abuse, changing people's mentality, taking away freedom. Abuse in my opinion is a demonic thing,' Bergoglio said, 'because every type of abuse destroys the dignity of the person. Every kind of abuse destroys what we are, the image and within. I am happy when these cases come out'. And on when the Vatican learned of Abbé Pierre's abuse, 'certainly after his death,' he replied, 'not before.

"I will not go to Paris, I will not go". He denied media rumours to those who, during the press conference on the Singapore-Rome flight, asked him if he would be going to Paris on 8 December to celebrate the re-opening Mass of Notre Dame. On the hypothetical trip to Argentina Bergoglio instead replied that "it is something that has not yet been decided. I would like to go, it is my people, I would like to go, but it is still not decided, there are various things to resolve'. And if, in the event, he would make a stopover in the Canary Islands, "I think a little about this, going to the Canary Islands, because there are situations there of migrants who come from the sea, and I would like to be close to the rulers, to the people of the Canary Islands".